MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Here is something Elon Musk told Bloomberg News last year.
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ELON MUSK: In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future.
MARTIN: That has not turned out to be true. The New York Times reports that since July, Musk has given $276 million to Republican groups. That is more than he spent on the 2024 election. A spokesman for Musk's super PAC confirmed the figures to The Associated Press, among other news outlets, but did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
We called journalist Casey Michel to put that kind of spending into context. He studies dark money and its influence at the progressive think tank the Center for International Policy. Good morning, Casey.
CASEY MICHEL: Hey. Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So donations of more than a quarter of $1 billion in just a few months. What do we know about how Musk wants it spent?
MICHEL: Yeah. It's a great question, Michel. This is something that Musk has been doing for the last few months, especially. There's been plenty of attention on some of the specific races that he has been donating to and supporting, including in places like Texas, where Senate candidate Ken Paxton is running for election. But we know that he has also been donating to nationwide races - races across the country - from Arizona to Iowa to Virginia and beyond.
And it is very clear that he wants what he wanted in 2024. He wants to elect the kind of politicians that will pursue the kind of policies that he wants to see implemented, both for his own personal benefit as well as for the benefit of the companies that are attached to him. This is on the regulatory side. This is on the investigative side. He certainly doesn't want to see any kind of investigations or increased regulations into any of his companies which impact his bottom line. But again, it's a similar dynamic to what we have seen in recent years from Musk. But this is at a scope and a scale that goes beyond even what we saw just in 2024.
MARTIN: Do - can you be more specific? I mean, are these straight - Republicans straight down the line?
MICHEL: Yeah. These are Republicans straight down the line. Absolutely.
MARTIN: OK.
MICHEL: So I think it's worth honing in on Texas in particular.
MARTIN: OK.
MICHEL: And again, this is where Musk himself is based. Many of the companies are based down there. And he has really raced to the rescue, at least financially, for Ken Paxton, who had been struggling financially over the last few months. And Musk's actions really opened the floodgates for other donations to come to Paxton in particular. And of course, those two have a long relationship. And again, it gets back to what I mentioned just a moment ago - to kind of using this wealth to open the levers of power, to shift the kinds of policies that would benefit Musk, his allies, his companies.
And again, regardless of what any other kind of American constituencies or even American voters would necessarily want, it is taking a trend that had been years in the making to something that we've never seen before in terms of the level. And again, it's the mixing and the melding and the opening of all of these deepest-pocketed donors, many of whom, including Musk, by all appearances, are not breaking any laws in doing this.
MARTIN: OK.
MICHEL: They are using the lay of the land to get what they want with their money - to influence those policies.
MARTIN: OK. So a spokesman for Musk's super PAC told the Times that America risks becoming a socialist country if Democrats win, and that is why he's spending all that money. What do you make of that framing?
MICHEL: Well, it's certainly rhetoric we have seen throughout American history when, again, those deepest-pocketed donors and financiers are concerned about increased regulations and are concerned about investigations - this kind of Cunard of a socialist future if they don't get what they want, if they're not allowed to use their deepest wealth for what exactly they want to see pursued, whether it's in Washington or Austin or elsewhere. This is a line of rhetoric we have certainly seen before.
MARTIN: OK. Thirty seconds left here. Two hundred and seventy-six million dollars, a quarter of $1 billion, is a lot of money. But put that into a bigger - the bigger story. How much money overall is being poured into the selection so far?
MICHEL: Oh, Michel, we're talking about billions. We're talking about tens of billions, potentially, down the line as well. Again, if you go back 20 years, dark money expenditures - just a couple million dollars. You know, again, plenty of money. But right now we're talking about at least $1 billion in just that 20-year span.
MARTIN: OK. That is Casey Michel. His latest book is "United States Of Oligarchy." Casey, thank you.
MICHEL: Thanks, Michel.
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