Republican insiders claim that Elon Musk’s America PAC – to which the Tesla CEO has donated $75 million in three months – is doing a poor job of winning over voters.
The tech billionaire hopes to trigger a “red wave” in a crucial swing state, hoping former President Trump can bring it back to the White House.
DailyMail.com previously reported some of the PAC’s problems, including firing major contractors and struggling to hire door knockers.
However, two anonymous sources say this Rolling stone that Trump supporters worry the effort looks less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary.
Musk initially backed DeSantis by holding a campaign announcement at X and has hired many of the Florida governor’s top people to run America PAC.
Republican insiders claim Elon Musk’s America PAC – to which the Tesla CEO has donated $75 million in three months – is doing a poor job of convincing voters
Two anonymous sources said Trump supporters are concerned that the effort looks less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary campaign.
GOP operatives are concerned that Musk’s PAC now resembles the one that paid campaigners and failed to garner much presidential support for the popular governor.
Generra Peck, known for short as DeSantis’ presidential campaign manager, and former pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC official Phil Cox, are leaders at America PAC.
Conservative activists have complained about a smaller election effort than expected, and others have complained that they are not doing enough in the seven key swing states that could decide the election.
It prompted one Trump adviser to ask DeSantis’ campaign, “Why should we trust them with anything at all?”
Part of their complaints have to do with the fact that the American PAC is still trying to hire people to canvas for Trump.
A major Trump donor reportedly asked, “Why isn’t the military here yet?”
Another Republican operative tells Trump himself that we have honestly expressed our concerns about the efforts.
A Trump adviser says Trump “loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and no one trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect.”
They add that some of those closest to Trump believe criticism of Musk is intended to sow division within the campaign.
Musk initially backed DeSantis by holding a campaign announcement on X and has hired many of the Florida governor’s top people to run America PAC
A Trump adviser says Trump “loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and no one trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect.”
America PAC has not yet responded to the allegations.
The committee, which was created by Musk to focus on winning voters in closely contested states, spent about $72 million of that money in the July-September period alone — according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
This is more than any other pro-Trump super PAC focused on getting out the vote, and Musk, the richest man in the world, was the PAC’s only donor.
However, because the Trump campaign relies on outside groups to recruit voters, Musk is now playing an outsized role in the upcoming election between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris – in what is expected to be the closest election in decades.
Musk, who voted for President Biden in 2020, has taken a sharp turn to the right in this election and formally endorsed Trump in July.
He also recently appeared with Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Tesla’s CEO announced on X that he will return to the crucial battleground state to hold a “series of talks.”
He said people who want to attend the talks – which will run from tomorrow through Monday – must sign a petition on his America PAC website pledging to support “free speech and the right to bear arms” and that they voted in these elections.
The tech billionaire hopes to trigger a ‘red wave’ in a crucial swing state, expecting former President Trump to bring the wave back to the White House
On Wednesday, Tesla’s CEO announced on X that he will return to the crucial battleground state to hold a “series of talks.” He said people who want to attend the talks should sign a petition on his America PAC website
The super PAC hopes to get more than one million signatures for the petition and for every registered voter who refers a person to sign the petition, you will receive $47.
We also hope to encourage people to vote early before Election Day.
America PAC also has a foothold in other battleground states – such as Wisconsin – in which the Washington Post has declared the most ambitious independent voting operation for the Republican candidate.
The group is focused on encouraging Americans who like Trump but don’t always vote this cycle to vote, a risky, labor-intensive strategy of the Trump campaign.
However, despite becoming a crucial player in Trump’s re-election bid, they have faced major bumps in the road, ranging from entering elections later than other PACs to problems retaining staff and contractors.
Since July, it has laid off two major contractors it hired to knock on doors.
It has also struggled to hire door knockers in several battleground states, in part because by the time the PAC became operational, many other recruitment groups had already gathered their staff.
And in states like Nevada and Arizona — where summer and fall temperatures have been sweltering — America PAC has struggled to maintain the staff needed to go door to door in the crucial final weeks of the campaign.
The documents show that the group still had about $4 million on hand at the end of September.
Musk’s donations to America PAC put him in the exclusive club of Republican megadonors, a list that also includes banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
Separate documents earlier on Tuesday showed that Miriam Adelson, the casino magnate, donated $95 million to another pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America PAC, during the same period.
Despite his apparent conversion to the right of American politics, it was reported earlier this month that Musk secretly funded a conservative political group for years, long before he publicly embraced Trump.
This included a group called Building America’s Future — which has been critical of the Biden administration — which received millions of dollars from Musk in 2022.