Elon Musk has broken the brains of anti-Trump politicians and commentators.
“Elon Musk says he will be giving away a million dollars every day to random voters who signed his super PAC’s petition,” NBC’s Kristen Welker somberly told Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro last Sunday. “You are a former attorney general. Is this legal?”
Shapiro didn’t say it isn’t. “I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians,” he said. “That is deeply concerning.”
Welker asked again, “So you think it might not be legal? Yes or no.”
“I think it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at,” Shapiro answered.
Over on ABC, comedian-turned-polemicist Whoopi Goldberg asked probably-soon-to-be-former VP candidate Tim Walz the same question.
“I thought that was against the law, but apparently this, they found some new loop-stuff that allowed this to go — I thought you couldn’t do this. What’s happening?” Goldberg sputtered.
Meanwhile, eleven Republican ex-officials who no longer have jobs in the government sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding an investigation into Musk’s million-dollar-a-day prize patrol. “We are aware of nothing like this in modern political history,” they wrote.
But is it illegal?
The Associated Press grilled experts about it. UCLA professor of political science Rick Hasen said, “The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal.”
It’s against the law to pay people to register to vote, but not everybody is certain that Musk is doing that here. Campaign finance lawyer Brendan Fischer would only say that the giveaway “arguably” violates the law.
Musk has again shown his engineering talent by launching a spectacular practical joke.
The petition circulated by his political action committee, which he named “America,” is two sentences long. This is what it says: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”
That’s right. What Kristen Welker sneeringly called “his super PAC’s petition” is asking voters to support the U.S. Constitution.
Maybe the entire journalism profession goes out for coffee during swearing-in ceremonies, but elected officials all take an oath to support the U.S. Constitution.
“Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” the PAC states on its website.
Musk has tricked journalists, polemicists and politicians into publicly expressing disgust with a petition in support of the United States government’s founding document.
Then again, maybe they weren’t tricked. Maybe they finally read it and were horrified to discover that it protects the freedom of people they don’t like.
There’s nothing unusual about voter registration drives or awarding prizes in the context of politics. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign hosted a fundraiser at a Broadway matinee and held a contest to give away two tickets to one lucky supporter. According to the contest rules, the winner would be selected by the campaign from 100 eligible entrants on the basis of “criteria determined and applied” by the campaign “to provide for an appropriate range of views, backgrounds, and interests among the winners selected.”
Is that legal? Apparently so. At last check, no one from the Clinton campaign has served any time for it.
Anyone who’s interested in researching the finer points of money in politics may want to find out why the chair of the Federal Election Commission, Sean Cooksey, predicted court challenges to the lightning-fast transfer of “the cash and all the assets” of the Biden re-election committee “over to another person.” Cooksey said election law experts had reached opposite conclusions about the legality of that process.
Musk is giving away money to people who are eligible to vote, even if they don’t vote. In that way, the giveaway is very similar to the Biden-Harris policy of forgiving college debt. The difference is, Biden and Harris are giving away your money.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley