{"id":271667,"date":"2024-08-19T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=271667"},"modified":"2024-08-17T08:49:59","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T07:49:59","slug":"billionaire-politics-a-danger-to-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/08\/billionaire-politics-a-danger-to-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire Politics: A Danger to Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

15 Aug 2024 <\/em>– Donald Trump was \u201cinterviewed\u201d this week on the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The interviewer was none other than X owner Elon Musk. Musk\u2019s questions to Trump were so deferential that End Citizens United, an election watchdog group, quickly filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, calling the two-hour-plus livestream\u00a0 \u201ca flagrant corporate in-kind contribution that violated campaign finance laws.\u201d This event represents just one moment in a highly charged national presidential election, and highlights the increasing power of billionaires attempting to hijack the political process for their own ends.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Democracy NOW!<\/p><\/div>\n

Elon Musk is the wealthiest person on the planet. The Wall Street Journal<\/em> has published some of the most revelatory reporting on his increased political activity, especially his newly revealed commitment to helping Trump win in November.<\/p>\n

The _Journal_\u2019s Dana Mattioli and colleagues wrote an article published in mid-July, exposing Musk\u2019s plans to donate a whopping $45 million per month to elect Trump, or $180 million in all. \u201cFormed in June, America PAC<\/span> is focused on registering voters and persuading constituents to vote early and request mail-in ballots in swing states,\u201d they reported.<\/p>\n

Mattioli\u2019s latest article, headlined \u201cInside Elon Musk\u2019s Hands-On Push to Win 800,000 Voters for Trump,\u201d details Musk\u2019s direct involvement in the super PAC\u2019s operations. The article opens, \u201cBeginning in the spring, Elon Musk quietly blocked out an hour on Fridays for a new pursuit: national politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs early as a few months ago, Elon Musk said he would not be contributing any money to either presidential candidate. What we\u2019ve seen is a complete 180,\u201d Dana Mattioli said on the Democracy Now!<\/em> news hour. \u201cNot only did he start this super PAC<\/span> with lots of money to help Donald Trump win, he is really taking on the get-out-the-vote aspect of the Trump campaign. He also had a big endorsement for Donald Trump after the assassination attempt. So he\u2019s become a very big political player this presidential cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cThe super PAC<\/span> is looking to get 800,000 low-propensity voters in swing states to the polls for Donald Trump. Elon also wants his workers in those states to register new voters to get them to the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, as Mattioli\u2019s latest reporting suggests, Musk\u2019s personal involvement has sparked chaos at the super PAC<\/span>. With only months until election day, key vendors were abruptly fired and replaced with others drawn largely from the failed presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n

Since the outcome of the U.S. presidential election hinges on just a handful of swing states, the infusion of so much cash with a focus on grassroots voter mobilization in those states could prove decisive. America PAC\u2019s efforts are up against renewed enthusiasm in the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.<\/p>\n

Democrats have their own billionaires contributing to PACs and super PACs. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and current Microsoft board member, has already given $10 million to help Harris. He has also stated that he hopes a future President Harris would fire Federal Trade Commission chairperson Lina Khan. A Biden-appointed regulator, Khan has aggressively pursued antitrust cases. As The Lever<\/em> reports, antitrust action might hinder Microsoft\u2019s acquisition of an AI company in which Hoffman is heavily invested.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the sums that billionaires and millionaires drop into the process, whether transparently or as dark money, the election, ultimately, will be decided by voters. The Harris-Walz campaign is hoping that a reinvigorated base, with major support from organized labor, will propel them to victory in November.<\/p>\n

One of the nation\u2019s largest and most powerful unions, the United Auto Workers, has endorsed Harris and is actively organizing its membership to ensure her victory.<\/p>\n

Following the Trump\/Musk livestreamed conversation on X, the UAW<\/span> filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Trump and Musk of \u201cillegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.\u201d Musk laughed as Trump praised his willingness to slash jobs:<\/p>\n

DONALD<\/span> TRUMP<\/span>:<\/strong> \u201cYou\u2019re the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, and you just say, \u2018You want to quit?\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elon Musk:<\/strong> \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DONALD<\/span> TRUMP<\/span>:<\/strong> \u201cThey go on strike. I won\u2019t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike. And you say, \u2018That\u2019s OK. You\u2019re all gone. You\u2019re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.\u2019 And you are the greatest.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The UAW<\/span> alleged the threat to fire striking workers was directed at Musk\u2019s non-union workforce at Tesla. The UAW<\/span> has more than a million members nationally, many in Michigan, a critical swing state. Come November, it may be the workers, not the billionaires, who get the last laugh.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Amy Goodman is the host of \u201c<\/em>Democracy Now!\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of <\/em>Breaking the Sound Barrier, released in paperback and now a <\/em>New York Times best-seller.<\/em><\/p>\n

Denis Moynihan is the co-founder of <\/em>Democracy Now! Since 2002, he has participated in the organization\u2019s worldwide distribution, infrastructure development, and the coordination of complex live broadcasts from many continents. He lives in Denver where he is developing a new noncommercial community radio station.<\/em><\/p>\n

The original content of this program is licensed under a <\/em>Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 democracynow.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15 Aug 2024 – Donald Trump was \u201cinterviewed\u201d this week on X by owner Elon Musk, whose questions were so deferential that End Citizens United filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission. An instance of the power of billionaires attempting to hijack the political process for their own ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":271668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[867,3225,276,392,555,2305,2571,249,70],"class_list":["post-271667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-anglo-america","tag-billionaires","tag-democracy","tag-elections","tag-elites","tag-elon-musk","tag-official-lies-and-narratives","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271669,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271667\/revisions\/271669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}