--- title: "As Tesla Sales Tank, Elon Musk Issues Unconvincing Denial That He’s Giving Donald Trump $45 Million Per Month" description: "Elon Musk denied he was donating $45 million a month to Donald Trump, but he did gloat about his Super PAC to support the former President." date: "2024-07-24" modified: "2024-07-24" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-denies-donald-trump-donation" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "the digest" --- # As Tesla Sales Tank, Elon Musk Issues Unconvincing Denial That He’s Giving Donald Trump $45 Million Per Month ![Elon Musk denied he was donating $45 million a month to Donald Trump, but he did gloat about his Super PAC to support the former President.]() *\Image: Bill Pugliano / Apu Gomes via Getty / Futurism\* ## PAC Man Elon Musk has denied reports that he's donating $45 million a month to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign — but given the fishy timing and his evolving explanation, we're not convinced. "What's been reported in the media is simply not true," Musk said in an [interview]() with the popular far-right commentator — and fellow culture warrior — Jordan Peterson. "I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump." Instead, Musk attempted to clarify, he helped create a Super PAC, or political action committee, called The America PAC, which supports Trump and other right-wing candidates. "The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place," Musk said. He didn't discuss his personal contributions to the America PAC. ## Jack Endorsey Musk may be denying the donation reports, but his support of Trump is a matter of record. In the wake of the failed assassination attempt on the former President, Musk [took to Twitter]() to give his full, enthusiastic endorsement, garnering millions of likes. Since then, more has come to light about Musk's involvement with the secretive America PAC, which he and several of his friends, including [Palantir]() co-founder Joe Lonsdale, [helped create to support Trump](). Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money, providing a lucrative workaround to restrictions that cap direct donations to a campaign. According [to *The New York Time's* sources](), the America PAC is expected to donate over $160 million over the course of Trump's campaign. ## Long Wait Musk's supposed donations to Trump were [first reported by *The Wall Street Journal*]() over a week ago — and it's curious that he's waited until now to deny them. When the report came out, there was a lot of optimism over Trump's odds of victory, but the mood has quickly shifted since then: Vice President [Kamala Harris]() has become the Democratic Party's frontrunner for the Presidency, bringing a surge of liberal enthusiasm that suddenly made Trump's campaign seem more precarious. There's also been additional scrutiny over how his overtures to the far-right [could be hurting sales at Tesla](), with the automaker posting an [absolutely dire second-quarter]() that saw profits plunge by 45 percent. Maybe he's finally seeing the writing on the wall. Musk did [post a meme]() responding to the story at the time, implying it was fake news. But that same day, he [responded to another post]() on Twitter praising him for pledging $180 million to Trump with a seemingly affirming "Yeah." And really, who knows what to make of any of this. Musk is an inveterate liar who often makes cheeky remarks online to confuse people. Earlier this year, for instance, [he promised]() he wasn't "donating money to either candidate for US President." For him to make an about-face now to *save* face, in other words, wouldn't really be unprecedented. **More on Elon Musk:** *[Tesla Sales Tank as Elon Musk Endorses Far Right]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()