The prize is for someone who just signs the petition, not for voting or registering to vote or anything like that. In other words, it’s not an activity directly related to the election at all.
More interesting, I think, is that he never said that the prize would be awarded randomly. He could just give away a million a day to his nephew in Pennsylvania, and be holding to what he actually said (disclaimer: I don’t know that he actually has a nephew in Pennsylvania).
Except that voter registration is a prerequisite to eligibility.
Yeah, I remember back in the 70s, Winchell’s Donuts offered a free donut to anyone who came in with an “I Voted” sticker, and I later heard that they couldn’t legally offer ANY item of value to anyone to induce them to vote (so they stopped. Dammit. I LIKED those donuts). Inducing them to register might trigger the same prohibition.
BTW, according to the Washington Post and other media
The Justice Department sent a letter to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s political group, warning that its contest offering registered voters in swing states $1 million for signing a petition could run afoul of federal election laws, according to a person familiar with the matter.
As if Elon Musk cares what the Justice Department or the Federal Election Commission thinks about his shit-fuckery, or is concerned with the paltry fines and easily dismissed indictments that might result. Musk has thumbed his nose at the FTC, FCC, FAA, EPA, OSHA, EEOC and numerous other federal regulatory agencies and commissions.
Rules are for other people. Little people. Not big-brained technogeniuses who can mumble on endlessly in a near gibberish stream-of-altered-consciousness.
Stranger
Sure, Elon can credibly believe he can’t really be hurt by all this.
But he’s not single-handedly administering this boondoggle. His minions are vulnerable and being Elon’s lackey isn’t as good a defense as being Elon himself.
Looks like he cares a little bit.
“Hey guys, the Joe Biden DOJ won’t let me give you money anymore, they’re weaponizing the law against political opponents again. Not only are they giving your jobs to illegals and taxing you to death, but I can’t even give my own money away to people who deserve it. MAGA!”
Even this can be useful for them potentially.
FWIW the YouTuber LegalEagle just put out a video discussing whether Musk violated laws with this million dollar stunt (Spoiler: He almost certainly did but there is a little gray area in there):
“Money is speech, and they’re gagging me.”
Remember that he reached out to “1st and 2nd Amendment supporters” to sign the pledge.
Evil, but not stupid.
Off topic:
What a weird accent he has. I think this is the first time I have heard Musk speak. It is in no way South African (he is from Pretoria, where the accent is reasonably identifiable) and I realise that you change accents according to where you live and who you talk with. But it is also not like any US accent I have heard, nor any South African.
Maybe Canadian mixed with Saxon German?
Musk came to Canada in 1989 and went to school there and then went to the US and attended a couple other colleges (Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School).
I’m guessing his accent got muddled a bit with all that to something unique to him.
I wish I could contact the man; Afrikaans has some spectacular insults.
One translates as “you are lower than a snake’s shit’s shadow”. The poetry and alliteration in the original far surpase the English
There are a bunch more. Most of which could be pointed at Musk.
Guess what he’s doing now? Basically trafficking people to “get out the vote” in Michigan.
Imagine the conversation setting this up:
What a proud moment for the Republican Party!
It really is amazing how much they project. They’ve been accusing [del]the jews[/del] George Soros of pulling that kind of shit for the last 20 years and here they are the only ones actually doing it.
Pretty sure any NDA deployed to shield such behavior from scrutiny is unenforceable.
Only if the person is brave enough to try. Most NDAs are pure bluster & rely on fear, not law, as their enforcement mechanism.
X is currently a raging stream of Trump ads, especially if you go to the search screen.
It would be, wouldn’t it? How utterly predictable.