Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, set up a questionably-legal lottery to drum up swing state support for Donald Trump — a lottery that’s already fallen under regulatory scrutiny for its wanton use of cash. According to folks who have signed up, however, Musk may have found a way around those pesky laws: Simply not actually paying anyone.
In addition to daily $1,000,000 payouts, Musk’s swing state efforts include a referral program — registered voters who get other registered voters to sign the Tesla CEO’s weirdly vague petition get $47 each. Yet, when
Rolling Stone talked to voters who’d done just that, they said that none of them had yet seen a dime:
In early October, some signatories received hand deliveries of $47 in cash, posing for photo-ops to tout the deal. Most, though, are expecting checks in the mail, and some have grown impatient. One issue, to judge by replies to Musk’s posts on X (formerly Twitter), is that voters have misread the terms of the America PAC offer, and think that just signing the petition will earn them money. “WHERE’S MY $47? I SIGNED ALREADY,” one Donald Trump supporter replied to Musk on Sunday. “I signed up and didn’t get $47,” another X user attempted to inform Musk earlier this month, appending a skull emoji to his message. And even those who apparently understood the referral system have complained of not receiving payments. “I signed up three people but didn’t get the $47,” another person replied to Musk this week, adding, “still glad I did it but wondering if that was a scam.”
Out of 30 people contacted by Rolling Stone who said they had attempted to claim payment through the America PAC petition offer, most did not respond. Of the nine who did, none have received payments so far. Six indicated that they support neither Musk nor Trump and simply wanted to claim the cash.
This likely isn’t an intentional move to skirt the law from Musk — he’s already shown a willingness to brazenly flout regulations — but could instead fall under the general huckster, snake oil salesman approach that he brings to all aspects of his life outside of white supremacy. Think of these $47 payments like the Hyperloop, or self-driving cars, or the Springfield Monorail.
It’s possible that, rather than drumming up support for Trump, Musk’s failure to do anything he says he’ll do (again, outside of bigotry) could actually hurt the former President in the long run. People generally don’t like it when other people owe them money without paying up, and no one knows when — or if — Musk will ever make good on his promises.