Elon Musk Backed Trump With Over $250 Million, Fueling the Unusual ‘RBG PAC’

The enormous spending from the world’s richest man quietly fueled allied groups and was revealed only now, as Mr. Musk plays a key role in the presidential transition.

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Musk Dropped $250 Million To Elect Trump, Other Republicans​

One of Mr. Musk’s most brazen moves — which emerged only on Thursday — was spending $20 million to prop up a super PAC that was named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late liberal Supreme Court justice, but that sought to help Mr. Trump by softening his anti-abortion positions.
Mr. Musk put the lion’s share of the money he donated toward his main super PAC, America PAC, cutting three checks for $25 million each in the final weeks of the race, according to the new filings with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Musk also spent $40.5 million on legally controversial checks to voters in swing states who signed a petition in support of the Constitution.
Over the course of the race, he gave America PAC a staggering $239 million in both cash and in-kind contributions.
America PAC conducted what it described as an expansive ground-game effort on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Mr. Musk came to see defeating President Biden as a vital imperative and swung hard toward Mr. Trump after the assassination attempt against him in July. He became so invested in the effort that he campaigned frequently for the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania, widely seen as the most important battleground state.
Mr. Musk also donated $4 million to America PAC on Nov. 12, a week after Election Day. He has vowed to keep his super PAC active by targeting progressive prosecutors and supporting Mr. Trump’s agenda.
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Mr. Musk’s total spending on the election is not yet known — and may never be. He cut other political checks to conservative down-ballot groups this cycle, including $12 million to two groups trying to elect Republican senators, the Senate Leadership Fund and the Sentinel Action Fund. Mr. Musk, who originally wanted to keep his support for Mr. Trump quiet, may have also funded dark-money entities that will never disclose his involvement or donations.

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On Thursday, Mr. Musk was revealed as the hidden funding source behind RBG PAC, a Republican group that worked to elect Mr. Trump but was named after a liberal jurist who despised him.
A trust belonging to Mr. Musk was the sole funder of RBG PAC, which had not yet disclosed its donors before a filing late Thursday. During the election, the group had run ads arguing that Mr. Trump’s position on abortion was not dissimilar from that of Justice Ginsburg, a feminist icon. “Great Minds Think Alike,” read the text on the super PAC’s website, featuring twin large photos of Mr. Trump and Justice Ginsburg, who died in 2020.
Her family bitterly opposed the ads. Ms. Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, said in a statement in October that the family condemned the use of her grandmother’s name and that doing so to “support Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, and specifically to suggest that she would approve of his position on abortion, is nothing short of appalling.”
The effort by RBG PAC was meant to reassure female voters who were wary of Mr. Trump because of his opposition to abortion rights. He has boasted of being proud of appointing the conservative justices, including Justice Ginsburg’s successor, who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
When the group began running ads, there were hints of Mr. Musk’s involvement. The group’s leader, May Mailman, at times defended Mr. Musk on television.

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