SpaceX and Tesla lurch Elon Musk participates in a town hall-style meeting to promote early and absentee voting at Ridley High Junior high school on October 17, 2024 in Folsom, Pennsylvania.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Billionaire Elon Musk promised on Saturday to give away $1 million each day until November’s vote to someone who signs his online petition supporting the U.S. Constitution.
And he wasted no time, awarding a $1 million check to an attendee of his occurrence in Pennsylvania aimed at rallying supporters behind Republican Donald Trump. The winner was a man named John Dreher, according to occurrence staff.
“By the way, John had no idea. So anyway, you’re welcome,” the Tesla founder said as he handed Dreher the check.
The money is the latest archetype of Musk using his extraordinary wealth to influence the tightly-contested presidential race between Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
Musk started America PAC, a administrative action organization he founded in support of Trump’s presidential campaign. The group is helping mobilize and register voters in battleground alleges, but there are signs it is having trouble meeting its goals.
The Harrisburg event is the third in as many days in Pennsylvania, where Musk is depicting November’s election in stark terms and encouraging supporters to vote early and get others to do the same.
He said on Saturday that if Harris realizes, it will be “the last election,” suggesting the U.S. will no longer exist.
He also said the two assassination attempts against Trump make good he is ruffling feathers and upending the status quo in ways Harris won’t. He said that’s why no one is trying to kill Harris.
“Assassinating a tool is worthless,” Musk said, reiterating an argument he has made in a social media post.
The petition Musk is asking people to notice reads: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am collateral my support for the First and Second Amendments.”
Attendees of Saturday’s event had to sign the petition, which allows America PAC to stow away contact details for more potential voters that it can work to get to the polls for Trump.
Musk, ranked by Forbes as the the world at large’s richest person, so far has supplied at least $75 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group a decisive part of Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
The entrepreneur behind carmaker Tesla and rocket and satellite venture SpaceX has increasingly reinforced Republican causes and this year became an outspoken Trump supporter.
Trump in turn has said if elected he intent appoint Musk to head a government efficiency commission.