Here’s why Elon Musk’s million-dollar presidential lottery is ominous.
By Sam Butler, Drop Site
Elon Musk can never be president.
Born in South Africa, he is constitutionally ineligible for the job of chief executive. But there is a role he can take: CEO of United States of America Inc.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk quietly incorporated “United States of America Inc” at the address of his family office in Texas, news first reported by Sarah Emerson in Forbes and confirmed by a search of Texas corporate records. While Musk’s precise plans for “United States of America Inc” aren’t yet known, it doesn’t take much of a squint to see the outlines of his vision.
On the campaign trail for Donald Trump, Musk has already begun gathering shareholders of sorts, offering $47 to anyone who refers a swing-state voter to sign his petition, which he says he is using to juice the get-out-the-vote campaign for Trump. He has also turned it into a lottery, and says that a different random signer will win $1 million each day from now until the election, a successful way to buy media attention. (The petition is designed for Trump supporters, but anybody in a swing state can sign, and if liberals participate it might screw up his metrics and his roll out, but that’s a different story.)
Musk’s Super PAC, which is fueling the lottery, the petition, and an ad campaign, boasts a similarly patriotic moniker, America PAC, and Federal Election Commission records show Musk has already pumped $75 million into it.
But what is Musk trying to buy here, exactly?
Musk’s vision for America — a place of high personal and economic freedom, where political activity could become criminal, under the rule of tech-controlled joint-stock companies — is one of the most important stories of this election.
Whether a vehicle for political activity, shielding activities from oversight, or more formal attempts at corporate capture of the American government, “United States of America Inc” points in a clear direction: capitalizing on the government for private gain. But there’s little in Musk’s past or present that suggests he’s interested merely in the quotidian government-contracting corruption. His admiration of Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei and El Salvador’s crypto-sovereign Nayib Bukele, executives rising out of the philosophical fermement of the New Right, suggest a deeper project may be underway.
Recent Posts
Will Trump Unintentionally Start A War?
November 22, 2024
Take Action NowHis unpredictable actions in his first term suggest dangerous times ahead.By Ahmed Nabil, Foreign Policy In…
Rahm Emanuel Is A Terrible Choice For DNC Chair
November 22, 2024
Take Action NowOn Thursday, the House passed a bill that would allow the president to wipe out any nonprofit organizations he opposes with…
15 Democrats Voted To Give Trump Nonprofit-Killing Powers
November 22, 2024
Take Action NowOn Thursday, the House passed a bill that would allow the president to wipe out any nonprofit organizations he opposes with…
Bury The #Resistance, Once And For All
November 21, 2024
Take Action NowIt had a bad run, and now it’s over. Let’s move on and find a new way to fight the right.By Katherine Krueger,…