Billionaire mogul and Trump-endorser Elon Musk was granted permission by a Pennsylvania judge to bequeath $1 million to registered swing state voters up until Tuesday. The decision goes against the motion brought forth by a Philadelphia district attorney, who claimed Musk's actions violated Pennsylvania's consumer protection law.
Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta presided over the case, and has yet to explain his reasoning behind the decision. District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, asserted that the process was nothing short of a scam, and that it was “designed to actually influence a national election”. He also called for it to be axed.
There has been an outpouring of criticism against the mogul's moves, with many pointing out that the cheque could inadvertently rig the elections. Others began pointing out that this is enough grounds to constitute election fraud. As one user tweeted,
"Yet republicans wanna cry about election fraud lmao."
Many more echoed the claims:
"Giving very election fraud …," someone pointed out.
"This is fraud," another user stated.
"how is this not buying votes dawg," yet another questioned.
"It is election fraud and interference," someone else asserted.
Seemingly everyone online was displeased with Elon Musk's donations.
"how is this even legal he is paying people to vote for trump," one user pointed out.
"ELECTION FRAUD BY PROXY!!!!!" someone declared.
"Appeal!!!!! This is vote buying," yet another chimed in.
Many more pointed out that if the Harris-Walz campaign followed suit, there would be a riot.
Elon Musk pledges to "award" a $1 million to anyone who signs his petition
Elon Musk's lawyer, Chris Gober, revealed that the final two recipients of the cheques will be from Arizona on Monday and Michigan the day after. According to AP, he said,
"The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance. We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
Musk's lawyers, according to AP, also defended his client's efforts, noting that it was “core political speech” as the participants had to sign a petition that declared their endorsement of the U.S. Constitution.
Richard Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law School, told Vox,
“I think there’s a strong argument that there’s potential criminal liability here, so at the very least [the Department of Justice] should be investigating and should be warning people not to be doing this."
Musk first proposed his initiatives during a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on October 19, when he said,
"We’re going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election."
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According to multiple outlets, Elon Musk has already shelled out $16 million to various participants who meet his criteria, i.e. those who endorse his fight in favor of free speech and gun rights.
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