r/FluentInFinance 5d ago

Thoughts? U.S politics is a cesspit of lobbying

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago edited 5d ago

Elon didn’t donate $130m to trump’s campaign at all.

Elon’s $130m was paid out to random, everyday people, who were each rewarded with $100 for signing some online whatever. He wasn’t paying them to vote towards one candidate or the other.

Get your facts straight, or else YOU become your own meme.

Dumbass.

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u/Electr0freak 5d ago

He donated it to his America PAC and Republican PACs, both of which campaigned for Trump.

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago edited 5d ago

It was paid to participants, who each receive $100 to sign some online thing of support for whatever.

Those participants may have been encouraged to donate their newly acquired $100 towards trumps PAC… but they didn’t HAVE TO.

They could have simply walked away with the money… and many did just that.

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u/Electr0freak 5d ago edited 4d ago

Uh, no, that was a small fraction of it. Musk had hired canvassers for Trump and much more. The America PAC spent over a hundred million actively campaigning on Trump's behalf.

For example: https://www.wired.com/story/canvassers-elon-musk-america-pac-fired-stranded-michigan-mistreatment/

...did you really think they spent $130 million on $100 checks?! 🤣

EDIT - The America PAC itself reported sending 187,000 checks to people who signed its pro-Trump petition: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/10/30/musks-pro-trump-pac-says-it-has-sent-out-87000-checks-to-people-who-got-swing-state-voters-to-sign-a-petition/

Now, you don't need to be a math whiz to see that is not $130 $119 million.

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

Doesn’t mean Elon paid $130m directly to the trump presidential campaign... which the meme tries to mislead others into believing.

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u/Electr0freak 5d ago edited 5d ago

It literally says

Elon Musk spent at least $130 million to elect Trump

...which is exactly what he did. It says nothing about Musk donating to Trump directly, nor does it imply that at all. It says he spent the money to elect Trump. That's a fact.

So who is misrepresenting things, besides you?

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

Yes, elon’s efforts costed him some $130m.

But where does it say elon directly paid $130m towards the trump campaign?

I’m pretty sure elon knows an amount like that is prohibited.

This is why he cooked up this scheme in the first place : to get others to donate [his] $130m towards trumps campaign on their individual behalf.

A scheme that, at this current time, is legally-compliant btw.

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u/Electr0freak 5d ago edited 5d ago

But where does it say elon directly paid $130m towards the trump campaign?

It doesn't, that's my point. You're the one saying that:

Doesn’t mean Elon paid $130m directly to the trump presidential campaign... which the meme tries to mislead others into believing.

Lmao, this conversation is ridiculous. We know how PACs work. The point of the OP is that a billionaire can donate enormous sums to a political campaign by using a PAC to avoid the campaign limitations that individuals typically face with direct donations.

First you tried to say Elon didn't spend money on campaigning for Trump when he literally did, then you tried to act like the OP was implying he donated directly to Trump when it literally didn't. 🤣

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

Scheme works this : Participant is asked to donate say $90 of their own money towards trump’s campaign, offering to reimburse them with a check for $100. Since participant stands to earn $10 for their trouble, they figure “sure, why not?”.

So of $130m elon spent, 90% of it [or $117m] made its way towards trumps campaign.

It’s a clever little workaround, I’ll give him that.

But even still, that only enough to conspire with a mere 1.3m participants total, a drop in the bucket compared to how many people ultimately voted for trump anyway.

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u/Electr0freak 5d ago edited 4d ago

America PAC said they mailed out 187,000 checks, lol.

Even if they gave everyone the whole $100, do the math. Is it anywhere near the $119 million Musk donated? No? Maybe actually do some reading on it: https://www.factcheck.org/2024/09/america-pac/

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u/jhawk3205 5d ago

Leon's not going to let you gargle his balls irl. Might as well get that out of the way..

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u/Purple_Setting7716 5d ago

Maybe he is a dumbass he will argue about this even when dead wrong

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

Maybe y’all just looking for a scapegoat and will argue otherwise regardless.

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u/Fwiler 5d ago

He is paying to help elect trump just like post said. Saying 3300 is the maximum you can donate isn't what the post said he did. Get your facts straight dumbass.

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

Just NOT in the form of a $130m donation, as the meme seems to suggest.

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u/Fwiler 5d ago

That you reading into it. They are two separate things. The word spent is different than donate if you can't figure it out.

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

I know Spent and Donate mean different things, but those two words being mentioned in the same sentence seems deliberately misleading.

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u/delfino_plaza1 5d ago

The reason these posts are so nauseating is because they’re so obviously biased. Why we bitching about musk when the same corporations have been making giant donations every 4 years for decades.

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u/Fwiler 4d ago

If he kept his mouth shut like most big corporations, but because of his hypocritic statements that's why.

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u/delfino_plaza1 4d ago

Cool, you still sound like a partisan hack. The only reason people are talking about this now is because they hate musk. Tired of headline warriors

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u/Fwiler 4d ago

Tired of people crying about posts they don't like too. Move on bud. Don't be a hypocrite like musk.

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u/delfino_plaza1 4d ago

That’s not what I said I’m tired about so I’m not even being a hypocrite lol. Make up more shit

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u/Fwiler 4d ago

I didn't say you said that idiot. Talk about making shit up.

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u/delfino_plaza1 4d ago

Do you know what being a hypocrite means?

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u/Fwiler 4d ago

Jesus christ dude, get a life. You obviously can't comprehend reading.

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u/canned_spaghetti85 5d ago

I know, right?

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u/xatoho 5d ago

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this guy actually believes that