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Elon Musk is averse to understatement. Last night, at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the world’s richest man bounded onstage in a cheesehead and handed out a pair of oversize checks worth $1 million apiece. The payouts went to two signatories of a petition against “activist judges,” though it’s clear that Musk’s aim was to support a judge who might tip the balance of Wisconsin’s state supreme court. The billionaire knows that his fortune helped propel Donald Trump to the White House last fall, and now he’s seeing what else money can buy.
Musk and Trump are supporting Brad Schimel, a conservative judge from Waukesha County who trails in the polls behind his liberal opponent, Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County. So far, Musk has personally donated $3 million to the Wisconsin Republican Party, and two Musk-linked PACs have spent much more. The state court’s makeup is 4–3 in the liberals’ favor, and the judges are poised to issue rulings on a variety of topics, including voting regulations, abortion rights, and the redrawing of congressional maps to combat Republican gerrymandering, which could chip away at Republicans’ narrow House majority. Democrats tried and failed to block Musk’s million-dollar gambit, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court allowed Musk to proceed. This morning, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler warned that the race could determine “whether Elon Musk can buy courts.”
In the pre-Trump era, tomorrow’s contest may have been something of a run-of-the-mill state election. Instead, this race has exploded into a national spectacle. Wisconsin has significantly loosened its campaign-finance restrictions in recent years, and with a reported $90 million pouring in from both sides, it’s the most expensive judicial election ever. But as Musk knows, the whole ordeal is bigger than deciding the composition of one state court. In many ways, tomorrow’s election is also a potential validation—or referendum—on the profound upheaval that Trump and Musk have wrought on the United States over the past nine weeks.
Last night, Musk tried to convey the gravitas of the situation. As he often does, the billionaire went a bit hyperbolic. “What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives,” Musk told the room, in reference to the redistricting. “Whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization.” No pressure!
Musk was occasionally interrupted by protesters, whom he scoffed were operatives hired by the left-leaning billionaire George Soros to disrupt his event. Soros and another billionaire, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, are among those who have donated to the Democrats as a means of helping Crawford, but no one has been as audacious as Musk in wooing potential voters using the reliable lever of cold hard cash. Beyond awarding two attendees the million-dollar checks, Musk’s PAC also promised $100 to anyone who signs the same petition, and $20 to anyone who posts a photo of someone holding a picture of Schimel and flashing a thumbs-up (in addition to various payouts for those who “recruit” Wisconsin voters to do the same, even people, such as himself, who live outside of the state). If Musk and his PAC’s collective efforts prove successful tomorrow, he’ll likely keep seeing what else he can buy as he seeks to expand his sphere of influence.
Until about a decade ago, dark money was the most apt phrase to discuss a range of shady, financially motivated political tactics. But Musk is carrying out his plans in broad daylight. His bold flouting of norms is a point of pride for him, not a secret. His PAC ran similar lotteries in swing states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, last year, and so far, state courts have yet to rule that he’s breaking election law. And in Wisconsin’s case, by helping mold the court, he also seems to be ensuring his own future success. As CNN noted, Musk’s beleaguered electric-vehicle company Tesla happens to be fighting a Wisconsin law that would keep car manufacturers from running company-owned dealerships in the state.
“It’s a super big deal,” Musk said last night. “I’m not phoning it in.” Standing in front of a giant American flag, he whipped out a magic marker and appeared to autograph his cheesehead before flinging it out into the crowd like a Frisbee. So far, Musk’s move-fast-and-break-things approach to navigating the contours of the American government has created chaos in federal agencies and diminished his personal fortune. But his very simple election strategy—give people money—has worked. Musk may be failing at some things, but having a lot of money is not one of them.
Related:
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- America’s future is Hungary, Anne Applebaum writes.
- The new marriage of unequals
- The world still needs Ringo Starr.
Today’s News
- Donald Trump said that he is weighing running for a third term, which is banned by the Constitution.
- The U.S. military has recovered the bodies of three soldiers who died in Lithuania after their vehicle was trapped in a bog. Search-and-rescue efforts are still ongoing for the fourth soldier.
- Marine Le Pen, the leader of a far-right French political party, was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from seeking public office for five years.
Dispatches
- The Wonder Reader: Working to get relaxation right might seem counterintuitive, but it matters, Isabel Fattal writes.
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Evening Read
My Day Inside America’s Most Hated Car
By Saahil Desai
On the first Sunday of spring, surrounded by row houses and magnolia trees, I came to a horrifying realization: My mom was right. I had been flipped off at least 17 times, called a “motherfucker” (in both English and Spanish), and a “fucking dork.” A woman in a blue sweater stared at me, sighed, and said, “You should be ashamed of yourself.” All of this because I was driving a Tesla Cybertruck.
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- Steven Cheung is the voice of Trump.
- A knapsack’s worth of courage
- Russia’s repression goes south.
Culture Break
Watch. Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (streaming on Hulu) shows the consequences of telling modern women that they can become stars by turning the camera onto their home life, Hannah Giorgis writes.
Examine. Mike White’s latest season of The White Lotus (streaming on Max) is the first great work of art in the post-“woke” era, Helen Lewis argues.
Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.
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