Elon Musk's "Political Acivists" Aren't What They Seem

"I felt embarrassed and played."

Engagement Ratings

As part of Elon Musk's drive to get out the vote for Donald Trump, workers were paid by his political action committee (PAC) to canvass for the candidate — but were allegedly threatened if they didn't meet quotas.

In videos obtained by Wired, Michigan canvassers contracted through Musk's America PAC were seen riding in the back of a U-Haul van while the person driving it told them that if they didn't bring in enough Trump voters, they wouldn't have their motel housing paid for.

What's worse, one of the people the magazine spoke to wasn't even aware that when they signed up with Blitz Canvassing, the firm contracted to do the door-knocking, that they'd be working for Musk and Trump.

According to contracts the canvassers signed, which were also reviewed by Wired, workers were "expected to maintain a 17-22 percent engagement rate during the campaign."

Translation: they were not only supposed to get nearly a quarter of people to open the door when they come knocking, but to also get that many people to commit to a vote for Trump. In a battleground state like Michigan, that's a near-impossible margin to clear — but if they didn't make it happen, these canvassers were allegedly punished.

"What’s gonna happen is, they’re gonna stop paying for these rooms," a canvassing manager was heard saying in the recordings shared with Wired, which the website did not publish. "And then you’re gonna end up having to pay for it yourself. You can’t do that with no money."

Bottom Line

Ironically, it appears that the Michigan canvassing operation is having operational issues of its own.

As some of the paid door-knockers told Wired, none of their group had valid driving licenses. When it came time to start driving around neighborhoods their organizers were confused about what to do. They initially began Ubering people to neighborhoods before settling on the solution seen in the video: driving them around in the back of U-Hauls, where they were forced to bounce around on suburban Michigan roads without seat belts.

"We were all told our transportation would be handled and we’d be in rental cars," one of the canvassers told the magazine. "It turned out to be U-Haul vans, and I felt embarrassed and played."

Neither Musk, America PAC, nor Blitz Canvassing responded to Wired's requests for comment. As Federal Election Commission disclosures show, however, the canvasser contracting firm has received more than $9 million for its services.

Even for the poor workplace conditions alleged at Musk's and Trump's companies, this seems beyond the pale — but to the people who support both moguls, it's very unlikely that it'll matter.

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