Trump’s Allies Are Terrified Elon Musk Is Screwing Him Over
It seems that Donald Trump’s campaign isn’t too happy with the glitchy canvassing efforts of Elon Musk’s America PAC.Musk’s PAC is responsible for the majority of the Trump campaign’s ground game in several swing states. Musk himself has donated at least $75 million to the PAC, spent on advertisements and canvassers to get out the vote. However, GOP operatives and conservative activists have seen little activity from Musk’s PAC in battleground states, and Trump’s allies are taking their complaints straight to the man in charge, Rolling Stone reported Wednesday. “We were upfront about our concerns,” said one GOP operative close to Trump. The operative, who spoke anonymously with Rolling Stone, shared a screenshot of a text conversation that showed their reports from swing states had been relayed to the former president.Several mega-donors and operatives who spoke to Rolling Stone pointed out that the America PAC is still searching for canvassers, according to a posting on its website. “Why isn’t the army already in place?” one donor asked rhetorically. This complaint is consistent with descriptions of Musk’s operation. In true technocrat fashion, Musk’s canvassing efforts relies on a door-knocking app called Campaign Sidekick, which means that there is no way to actually verify whether volunteers in swing states are doing their jobs. Sources told Rolling Stone that members of Trump’s camp have been complaining about his reliance on America PAC for weeks. Some in Trump’s inner circle don’t trust the PAC because of who’s actually in charge of it: two veterans of the Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential run, Phil Cox, who led the Never Back Down Super PAC, and Generra Peck, who served as DeSantis’s campaign manager before he dropped out. “Why in the world would we trust them with anything?” one Trump adviser asked rhetorically. It seems that Trump has been less than receptive to the warnings from his allies, though. “I can tell you from personal interactions with him that Donald Trump loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and nobody trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect,” one Trump political adviser told Rolling Stone. “As you can see, Trump has been saying at rallies how much he loves Elon and the work he’s putting in… Elon is going all in where it truly matters, especially in Pennsylvania, where his efforts are most visible.”Rather than devote campaign resources to organizing canvassers, Trump has instead focused on motivating his supporters to act as poll watchers, leaving Musk in charge of rounding up hundreds of thousands of votes. As Trump has outsourced his ground game, his efforts have been dwarfed by Kamala Harris’s field campaign.
It seems that Donald Trump’s campaign isn’t too happy with the glitchy canvassing efforts of Elon Musk’s America PAC.
Musk’s PAC is responsible for the majority of the Trump campaign’s ground game in several swing states. Musk himself has donated at least $75 million to the PAC, spent on advertisements and canvassers to get out the vote.
However, GOP operatives and conservative activists have seen little activity from Musk’s PAC in battleground states, and Trump’s allies are taking their complaints straight to the man in charge, Rolling Stone reported Wednesday.
“We were upfront about our concerns,” said one GOP operative close to Trump. The operative, who spoke anonymously with Rolling Stone, shared a screenshot of a text conversation that showed their reports from swing states had been relayed to the former president.
Several mega-donors and operatives who spoke to Rolling Stone pointed out that the America PAC is still searching for canvassers, according to a posting on its website. “Why isn’t the army already in place?” one donor asked rhetorically.
This complaint is consistent with descriptions of Musk’s operation. In true technocrat fashion, Musk’s canvassing efforts relies on a door-knocking app called Campaign Sidekick, which means that there is no way to actually verify whether volunteers in swing states are doing their jobs.
Sources told Rolling Stone that members of Trump’s camp have been complaining about his reliance on America PAC for weeks. Some in Trump’s inner circle don’t trust the PAC because of who’s actually in charge of it: two veterans of the Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential run, Phil Cox, who led the Never Back Down Super PAC, and Generra Peck, who served as DeSantis’s campaign manager before he dropped out.
“Why in the world would we trust them with anything?” one Trump adviser asked rhetorically.
It seems that Trump has been less than receptive to the warnings from his allies, though. “I can tell you from personal interactions with him that Donald Trump loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and nobody trying to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect,” one Trump political adviser told Rolling Stone. “As you can see, Trump has been saying at rallies how much he loves Elon and the work he’s putting in… Elon is going all in where it truly matters, especially in Pennsylvania, where his efforts are most visible.”
Rather than devote campaign resources to organizing canvassers, Trump has instead focused on motivating his supporters to act as poll watchers, leaving Musk in charge of rounding up hundreds of thousands of votes. As Trump has outsourced his ground game, his efforts have been dwarfed by Kamala Harris’s field campaign.
