Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neurolink.
I'm your host, Will Walden. Elon Musk has quietly poured 10s
of millions of dollars into Republican aligned super PACs
(00:23):
ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, raising this question
how far is he willing to go to shape the political balance of
Congress? Federal Election Commission
filing show that Elon Musk recently donated $45,000,000 to
America PAC. This is a super PAC that's
aligned with Republican Senate candidates.
(00:44):
He made this donation through one of his private investment
entities, which allowed him to obscure the contribution until
the PAC reported his fundraisinghaul last week.
Now this amounts places Musk among the top political donors
of 2026 so far. The contribution marks a sharp
increase from his previously more ambivalent or centrist
(01:07):
political stance and signals A deeper, more calculated
involvement in GOP aligned electoral strategies.
America PAC plans to spend heavily in severed high stakes
Senate races that could determine whether Republicans
reclaimed control of the chamber.
Now. The PAC has already reserved
over $80 million in TV and digital ad buys across swing
(01:31):
states including Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona.
These states are home to some ofthe most contested Senate races,
where Democratic incumbents are facing strong Republican
challengers. Now, strategists connected to
the pack describe Musk's donation as a core piece of its
budget and a reason they could commit to major early
advertising commitments. Now.
(01:52):
Musk made that contribution through an investment vehicle
tied to his family office. This method allowed the funds to
flow without drawing public attention until mandatory
disclosures came due. And the filing shows the money
arrived in June just as the packramped up spending and began
targeting Democratic candidates with attack ads focused on
inflation, immigration and energy policy.
(02:13):
Now, while Musk has not publiclycommented on the donation,
multiple individuals involved with the pack said the funds
came with no strings attached and were given with the
understanding the group would use them to support Republican
Senate gains. Now, this level of spending by a
single donor stands out even in an era of increasingly expensive
election. During the 2024 cycle, the top
(02:35):
ten individual donors to federalsuper PAC's gave between 20 and
$60 million each. Musk's 45,000,000 donation
places him in the upper echelon and suggest he is now a major
figure in national Republican fundraising once again.
Unlike some of the other mega donors who have long standing
ties to the GOP donor class, Musk arrived at this level of
(02:56):
influence largely through his own growing interest in politics
over the past three years. Now, this move aligns with a
wider political pattern from Musk.
Since 2022, he's made increasingly pointed comments
criticizing Democrats and endorsing Republicans, and he
has posted frequently about immigration, crime, government
(03:17):
regulation, echoing standard Republican campaign things like
people crossing the border illegally and trans issues.
Last year, he hosted GOP figureson his social media platform X,
including controversial figures like Tucker Carlson and Vivek
Ramswami. He also restored thousands of
previously banned right wing accounts after acquiring Twitter
(03:39):
in 2022. Now, despite previously
identifying as a centrist or a libertarian, Musk has shifted
more decisively into the Republican orbit.
We know this doge. We've all seen Doge now. 2024
suggested growing disillusionment with Democratic
leadership, especially on business regulations and
(04:01):
environmental policy. For Musk.
Tesla, SpaceX and Nerlink have each faced federal scrutiny in
recent years, including labor investigations and also
environmental reviews. Musk has cited these pressures
in internal meetings, according to people at all of those
companies, Tesla, SpaceX and Urlink, And as this is a part of
his frustration with Democratic parties going forward, now,
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Republican strategists have saidthat Musk's support is crucial.
Both financial and cultural is influenced through X, which
remains one of the most important real time platforms in
the world. Adds a layer of media for the
Republicans to latch onto. Analysts believe his reach among
conservative audience helps Republican candidates connect
(04:47):
with voters directly, bypassing tradition of media.
Some PAC strategist noted that Musk's presence in GOP politics
is unique because he brings bothcapital and a massive
communications channel to the table.
This is like back in the 80s or 70s when people would buy
television stations or even newspapers so they can get their
(05:09):
political views on the front page or in front of the news
audiences because they controlled the narrative.
That's what Musk is doing with X.
If you don't see it, you have totake another look.
Elon Musk is Republican in nature and he runs and owns X.
(05:30):
He can control the narrative no matter what he says.
If he thinks it's a free speech platform, that's great, But we
don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I love everything that Elon
does as far as his companies go.Technology is incredible.
But you have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes.
And it's not because I'm Democrat, It's not because I'm a
Republican, not because I'm a centrist, because I know there's
(05:52):
going to be comments. There are always a comment about
how I'm a hater, Elon Musk. But The thing is, the fact of
the matter is, I just think that's the thing.
I just think for myself and I, Iquestion things.
If you don't question your leaders, you are a lemming.
(06:12):
You're just a follower. You're not somebody that you are
actually somebody that they lovebecause they can see anything
they want and you'll do anythingthey want.
You're following a narrative andElon Musk is trying to enhance
that narrative through X. And these are my own personal
opinions. I'm usually the straight down
the middle news guy, right? You've known me for the last
(06:35):
five years. I've been doing this for the
last five years. And some of these issues, you
have to think about it for a second, like why did Elon Musk
do this stuff? There is a reason behind Olivant
and one of the reasons is because he needs some power and
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he's a very, very intense business guy.
Everything that's happening right now is because his
companies need to be on the right side of politics, not
meaning right side Republican, because he is on the Republican
side right now and he has to be a lot of the big corporations.
They'll follow whatever pattern happens in politics.
(07:20):
If it's Republican facing, they're going to donate to
Republicans. If it's Democrat facing, they're
going to face, they're going to donate to Democrats so they can
keep good favor in the government because you know
where they get a bunch of their money?
The government, the Department of Defense for SpaceX, Elon Musk
gets money for Starlink as well.And also a Tesla gets a bunch of
(07:41):
money from the government and also Neuralink too.
They get funding through the government in some way.
So even Boring Company. So they get tax incentives, they
get breaks, they get money straight up through the, through
their services Department of Defense, you know, with SpaceX
and Star Link and also a Starship coming up, like
they're, they're funding it basically through NASA and also
(08:04):
through Department of Defense grants.
So, you know, in Falcon 9 as well and all the Falcon 9
launches. So they have to be in good favor
of whatever party is in charge. And going forward, the
Republicans, Elon thinks the Republicans should be in charge
until 2028 when Trump is out of office.
(08:25):
So if he gets people in office in 2026, he's going to guarantee
that he's going to be in good favor with these politicians.
Now, like they say that the no strings attached, right?
But if somebody's going to give me $45,000,000 to my pack, I'm
going to keep them in good favor.
(08:46):
You know, I'm going to think that they are on my side and of
course I'm getting a little nudge, nudge.
Hey there buddy, good job. Thanks for all the millions of
dollars, 10s of millions of dollars.
You're really helping us out. I'm going to help you out in
return. It's not like they write this
stuff down because why would they?
You know, if you give somebody $100 million in their pack or
(09:07):
45,000,000 dollars, $10 million in their pack, they're going to
find you in good favor. So him giving them $45 million,
they're going to look back at this and go like, huh, Elon gave
me 45,000,000, you know, give us$45 million.
He just needs a little help withSpaceX.
He's a good guy. You know, he just needs a little
nudge, maybe some more department, Department of
Defense contracts, you know, to,to keep him in our good favors.
(09:31):
So he doesn't, you know, go someplace else with SpaceX or
something. I don't know.
But it's basically politics is the same as it's always been
people. And it's not because I'm Gen.
X and I'm, you know, anti everything.
The fact of the matter is you know it as well as I do.
And if you don't admit it, that's up to you.
(09:52):
But politics is all about politics.
It's in the name. Shake my hand, I'll pat your
back. Help you out.
You help me out, you know, I'll tell you what stocks to trade
for more money. You know, that's how it works.
We all know it. We all know it.
(10:12):
But some people just choose not to think about it.
I don't, I don't like to think about politics.
I think it's horrible. But when things like this come
up and Elon, of course, rememberwhat he said he was going to
make his own party like the day after Trump did something.
And then like, that's not a thing right now.
He's not, I mean, he's still working on it, right?
(10:33):
But he's different. He's definitely giving money to
Republicans even though he has his own party that is that.
Is that kind of weird to you? I want to know in the comments.
Let me. Let me know what you think about
this in the comments. Do you think it's weird?
Is it weird that Elon Musk is donating to the Republican Party
(10:55):
even though he's anti Republican, anti mega, anti
Trump, anti Democrat, but he's doing this for his companies.
And you could make you could do those, those general mental
gymnastics. Oh, he's just doing it for the
company, man. He has to do it.
(11:16):
But if he's a man of his morals,wouldn't you think that he would
stand behind his own morals be like, yeah, man, I can't do it
because it doesn't align with mycause, which is my own literal
political party. I don't know.
There's, there's part of me that's I know why he's doing it.
You know, everybody knows why hedoes it.
(11:39):
But there's part of me that's like, man, why is why is this
guy, why is this guy doing it? What's he doing?
Why? And the answer is he's just
doing it for the money. He has to keep his companies
running. He knows that if he if he
doesn't get those Department of Defense contracts, I know SpaceX
is a private company. Tesla needs those contracts.
(12:00):
You need, they need those government subsidies.
And if they don't get them, the stock price goes way down.
Stock price goes way down, company loses money.
Elon Musk loses favor with the board because he just lost them
a bunch of money due to politics.
And if he loses favor with the board because of his politics,
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he's gone not from SpaceX, but from Tesla.
People stop buying the stock. He doesn't make as much money.
He can't invest that money into other projects that he has going
on. So the $45,000,000 that he
invested in that pack is going to Elon's businesses, not to
Elon himself and not directly to, you know, the politicians,
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you know, the House and the Senate Republicans.
It's not going directly to them,but it's going to their
campaign, which in turn, you know, if you're getting
$45,000,000 in, in your, in yourbank account for the pack, you
know you're going to be living pretty good.
You know, you're not going to beeating off the value menu if you
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have $45,000,000 in your from Elon Musk in your pack.
Like it's going to be spread around pretty evenly.
And even though that money is going to buy ads etcetera,
etcetera, you're not going to, you're going to be eating steak
and lobster, man. You're going to be eating good.
And also you might need a private jet to go someplace
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can't fly coach because you're asenator or you're a House
Republican. So you know, you can fly however
you want to fly, fly private. It's nice.
Maybe you need a new suit, maybeneed some new shoes.
You need, you know, something nice for your office so you can
film there for a commercial or something.
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. You need a new piece of art.
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It's going to go on the wall that you can keep after this.
So wink, wink, handshake, handshake, pat you on the back
kind of thing. So we all know that's what's
happening and I'm not, you know,I'm not.
I know what I understand this. I understand why it's happening,
but we have to take a hard look at this and really be, you know,
(14:19):
really look into it. You know, it's covers
fundraising and spending from January 1st through June 30th.
Now, it's also unclear whether Elon used his super PAC for
anything related to his July pledge to start a new political
party. Who knows?
Which came after the period covered by the new report.
(14:44):
So like Elon knew about the party after the period covered
by this report. Musk spent about 5 months at the
White House with Doge and then he backed off because everybody
was rioting and protesting him and Trump.
(15:06):
They weren't just protesting Trump, they're protesting.
Literally millions of people were protesting Elon.
Millions of people and he didn'tlike it.
So he backed down from Doge. He didn't want any part of it
anymore. He was done with politics.
He couldn't handle it. He's had a rocky relationship
with Trump since and the Republican Party.
(15:26):
But apparently not that rocky because $45 million is pretty
nice if you if you like somebodyeven.
But if you hate them, like Elon has said, that's even weirder.
So I want to know in the comments of whatever podcast
platform you're on right now, what you think of the story,
(15:46):
what you think about it from Elon's perspective and also from
a bipartisan perspective. If you're a Republican, think of
it right down the center. A Democrat, think of it right
down the center. Why would he be doing this?
And then let me know what you think in the comments because
it's interesting to say the least.
(16:11):
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(16:31):
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