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Elon Musk donates 45 million to republicans · Elon Musk Podcast

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Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
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This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
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shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neurolink.
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I'm your host, Will Walden. Elon Musk has quietly poured 10s
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of millions of dollars into Republican aligned super PACs
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ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, raising this question
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how far is he willing to go to shape the political balance of
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Congress? Federal Election Commission
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filing show that Elon Musk recently donated $45,000,000 to
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America PAC. This is a super PAC that's
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aligned with Republican Senate candidates.
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He made this donation through one of his private investment
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entities, which allowed him to obscure the contribution until
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the PAC reported his fundraising haul last week.
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Now this amounts places Musk among the top political donors
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of 2026 so far. The contribution marks a sharp
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increase from his previously more ambivalent or centrist
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political stance and signals A deeper, more calculated
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involvement in GOP aligned electoral strategies.
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America PAC plans to spend heavily in severed high stakes
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Senate races that could determine whether Republicans
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reclaimed control of the chamber.
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Now. The PAC has already reserved
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over $80 million in TV and digital ad buys across swing
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states including Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona.
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These states are home to some of the most contested Senate races,
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where Democratic incumbents are facing strong Republican
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challengers. Now, strategists connected to
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the pack describe Musk's donation as a core piece of its
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budget and a reason they could commit to major early
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advertising commitments. Now.
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Musk made that contribution through an investment vehicle
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tied to his family office. This method allowed the funds to
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flow without drawing public attention until mandatory
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disclosures came due. And the filing shows the money
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arrived in June just as the pack ramped up spending and began
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targeting Democratic candidates with attack ads focused on
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inflation, immigration and energy policy.
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Now, while Musk has not publicly commented on the donation,
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multiple individuals involved with the pack said the funds
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came with no strings attached and were given with the
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understanding the group would use them to support Republican
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Senate gains. Now, this level of spending by a
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single donor stands out even in an era of increasingly expensive
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election. During the 2024 cycle, the top
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ten individual donors to federal super PAC's gave between 20 and
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$60 million each. Musk's 45,000,000 donation
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places him in the upper echelon and suggest he is now a major
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figure in national Republican fundraising once again.
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Unlike some of the other mega donors who have long standing
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ties to the GOP donor class, Musk arrived at this level of
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influence largely through his own growing interest in politics
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over the past three years. Now, this move aligns with a
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wider political pattern from Musk.
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Since 2022, he's made increasingly pointed comments
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criticizing Democrats and endorsing Republicans, and he
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has posted frequently about immigration, crime, government
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regulation, echoing standard Republican campaign things like
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people crossing the border illegally and trans issues.
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Last year, he hosted GOP figures on his social media platform X,
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including controversial figures like Tucker Carlson and Vivek
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Ramswami. He also restored thousands of
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previously banned right wing accounts after acquiring Twitter
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in 2022. Now, despite previously
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identifying as a centrist or a libertarian, Musk has shifted
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more decisively into the Republican orbit.
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We know this doge. We've all seen Doge now. 2024
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suggested growing disillusionment with Democratic
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leadership, especially on business regulations and
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environmental policy. For Musk.
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Tesla, SpaceX and Nerlink have each faced federal scrutiny in
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recent years, including labor investigations and also
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environmental reviews. Musk has cited these pressures
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in internal meetings, according to people at all of those
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companies, Tesla, SpaceX and Urlink, And as this is a part of
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his frustration with Democratic parties going forward, now,
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Republican strategists have said that Musk's support is crucial.
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Both financial and cultural is influenced through X, which
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remains one of the most important real time platforms in
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the world. Adds a layer of media for the
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Republicans to latch onto. Analysts believe his reach among
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conservative audience helps Republican candidates connect
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with voters directly, bypassing tradition of media.
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Some PAC strategist noted that Musk's presence in GOP politics
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is unique because he brings both capital and a massive
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communications channel to the table.
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This is like back in the 80s or 70s when people would buy
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television stations or even newspapers so they can get their
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political views on the front page or in front of the news
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audiences because they controlled the narrative.
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That's what Musk is doing with X.
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If you don't see it, you have to take another look.
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Elon Musk is Republican in nature and he runs and owns X.
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He can control the narrative no matter what he says.
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If he thinks it's a free speech platform, that's great, But we
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don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
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I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I love everything that Elon
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does as far as his companies go. Technology is incredible.
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But you have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes.
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And it's not because I'm Democrat, It's not because I'm a
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Republican, not because I'm a centrist, because I know there's
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going to be comments. There are always a comment about
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how I'm a hater, Elon Musk. But The thing is, the fact of
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the matter is, I just think that's the thing.
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I just think for myself and I, I question things.
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If you don't question your leaders, you are a lemming.
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You're just a follower. You're not somebody that you are
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actually somebody that they love because they can see anything
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they want and you'll do anything they want.
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You're following a narrative and Elon Musk is trying to enhance
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that narrative through X. And these are my own personal
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opinions. I'm usually the straight down
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the middle news guy, right? You've known me for the last
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five years. I've been doing this for the
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last five years. And some of these issues, you
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have to think about it for a second, like why did Elon Musk
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do this stuff? There is a reason behind Olivant
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and one of the reasons is because he needs some power and
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he's a very, very intense business guy.
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Everything that's happening right now is because his
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companies need to be on the right side of politics, not
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meaning right side Republican, because he is on the Republican
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side right now and he has to be a lot of the big corporations.
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They'll follow whatever pattern happens in politics.
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If it's Republican facing, they're going to donate to
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Republicans. If it's Democrat facing, they're
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going to face, they're going to donate to Democrats so they can
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keep good favor in the government because you know
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where they get a bunch of their money?
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The government, the Department of Defense for SpaceX, Elon Musk
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gets money for Starlink as well. And also a Tesla gets a bunch of
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money from the government and also Neuralink too.
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They get funding through the government in some way.
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So even Boring Company. So they get tax incentives, they
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get breaks, they get money straight up through the, through
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their services Department of Defense, you know, with SpaceX
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and Star Link and also a Starship coming up, like
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they're, they're funding it basically through NASA and also
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through Department of Defense grants.
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So, you know, in Falcon 9 as well and all the Falcon 9
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launches. So they have to be in good favor
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of whatever party is in charge. And going forward, the
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Republicans, Elon thinks the Republicans should be in charge
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until 2028 when Trump is out of office.
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So if he gets people in office in 2026, he's going to guarantee
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that he's going to be in good favor with these politicians.
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Now, like they say that the no strings attached, right?
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But if somebody's going to give me $45,000,000 to my pack, I'm
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going to keep them in good favor.
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You know, I'm going to think that they are on my side and of
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course I'm getting a little nudge, nudge.
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Hey there buddy, good job. Thanks for all the millions of
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dollars, 10s of millions of dollars.
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You're really helping us out. I'm going to help you out in
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return. It's not like they write this
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stuff down because why would they?
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You know, if you give somebody $100 million in their pack or
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45,000,000 dollars, $10 million in their pack, they're going to
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find you in good favor. So him giving them $45 million,
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they're going to look back at this and go like, huh, Elon gave
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me 45,000,000, you know, give us $45 million.
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He just needs a little help with SpaceX.
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He's a good guy. You know, he just needs a little
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nudge, maybe some more department, Department of
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Defense contracts, you know, to, to keep him in our good favors.
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So he doesn't, you know, go someplace else with SpaceX or
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something. I don't know.
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But it's basically politics is the same as it's always been
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people. And it's not because I'm Gen.
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X and I'm, you know, anti everything.
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The fact of the matter is you know it as well as I do.
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And if you don't admit it, that's up to you.
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But politics is all about politics.
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It's in the name. Shake my hand, I'll pat your
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back. Help you out.
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You help me out, you know, I'll tell you what stocks to trade
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for more money. You know, that's how it works.
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We all know it. We all know it.
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But some people just choose not to think about it.
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I don't, I don't like to think about politics.
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I think it's horrible. But when things like this come
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up and Elon, of course, remember what he said he was going to
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make his own party like the day after Trump did something.
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And then like, that's not a thing right now.
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He's not, I mean, he's still working on it, right?
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But he's different. He's definitely giving money to
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Republicans even though he has his own party that is that.
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Is that kind of weird to you? I want to know in the comments.
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Let me. Let me know what you think about
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this in the comments. Do you think it's weird?
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Is it weird that Elon Musk is donating to the Republican Party
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even though he's anti Republican, anti mega, anti
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Trump, anti Democrat, but he's doing this for his companies.
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And you could make you could do those, those general mental
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gymnastics. Oh, he's just doing it for the
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company, man. He has to do it.
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But if he's a man of his morals, wouldn't you think that he would
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stand behind his own morals be like, yeah, man, I can't do it
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because it doesn't align with my cause, which is my own literal
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political party. I don't know.
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There's, there's part of me that's I know why he's doing it.
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You know, everybody knows why he does it.
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But there's part of me that's like, man, why is why is this
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guy, why is this guy doing it? What's he doing?
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Why? And the answer is he's just
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doing it for the money. He has to keep his companies
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running. He knows that if he if he
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doesn't get those Department of Defense contracts, I know SpaceX
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is a private company. Tesla needs those contracts.
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You need, they need those government subsidies.
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And if they don't get them, the stock price goes way down.
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Stock price goes way down, company loses money.
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Elon Musk loses favor with the board because he just lost them
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a bunch of money due to politics.
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And if he loses favor with the board because of his politics,
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he's gone not from SpaceX, but from Tesla.
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People stop buying the stock. He doesn't make as much money.
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He can't invest that money into other projects that he has going
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on. So the $45,000,000 that he
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invested in that pack is going to Elon's businesses, not to
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Elon himself and not directly to, you know, the politicians,
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you know, the House and the Senate Republicans.
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It's not going directly to them, but it's going to their
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campaign, which in turn, you know, if you're getting
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$45,000,000 in, in your, in your bank account for the pack, you
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know you're going to be living pretty good.
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You know, you're not going to be eating off the value menu if you
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have $45,000,000 in your from Elon Musk in your pack.
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Like it's going to be spread around pretty evenly.
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And even though that money is going to buy ads etcetera,
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etcetera, you're not going to, you're going to be eating steak
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and lobster, man. You're going to be eating good.
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And also you might need a private jet to go someplace
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can't fly coach because you're a senator or you're a House
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Republican. So you know, you can fly however
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you want to fly, fly private. It's nice.
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Maybe you need a new suit, maybe need some new shoes.
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You need, you know, something nice for your office so you can
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film there for a commercial or something.
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Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. You need a new piece of art.
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It's going to go on the wall that you can keep after this.
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So wink, wink, handshake, handshake, pat you on the back
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kind of thing. So we all know that's what's
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happening and I'm not, you know, I'm not.
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I know what I understand this. I understand why it's happening,
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but we have to take a hard look at this and really be, you know,
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really look into it. You know, it's covers
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fundraising and spending from January 1st through June 30th.
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Now, it's also unclear whether Elon used his super PAC for
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anything related to his July pledge to start a new political
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party. Who knows?
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Which came after the period covered by the new report.
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So like Elon knew about the party after the period covered
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by this report. Musk spent about 5 months at the
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White House with Doge and then he backed off because everybody
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was rioting and protesting him and Trump.
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They weren't just protesting Trump, they're protesting.
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Literally millions of people were protesting Elon.
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Millions of people and he didn't like it.
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So he backed down from Doge. He didn't want any part of it
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anymore. He was done with politics.
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He couldn't handle it. He's had a rocky relationship
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with Trump since and the Republican Party.
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But apparently not that rocky because $45 million is pretty
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nice if you if you like somebody even.
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But if you hate them, like Elon has said, that's even weirder.
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So I want to know in the comments of whatever podcast
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platform you're on right now, what you think of the story,
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what you think about it from Elon's perspective and also from
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a bipartisan perspective. If you're a Republican, think of
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it right down the center. A Democrat, think of it right
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down the center. Why would he be doing this?
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And then let me know what you think in the comments because
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it's interesting to say the least.
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Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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