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'What a coincidence': Musk's $1 million Wisconsin giveaway won by chair of state's College Republicans (www.dailydot.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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Summary

Elon Musk gave away two $1 million checks in Wisconsin ahead of a key state Supreme Court election, prompting backlash after one winner was revealed as Nicholas Jacobs, chair of the Wisconsin College Republicans.

Critics called the giveaway “rigged,” fueling suspicion about Musk’s political motives.

Though Musk claimed the money wasn’t tied to voting, his deleted post initially suggested it rewarded voters. Wisconsin law bans vote-motivating payments.

Musk has invested nearly $20 million to support conservative candidate Brad Schimel.

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[–] 180 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I called this. It was always rigged.

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  • [–] 93 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    Wasn't this always known? Musk's defense when he was sued for this in the 24 pres election was that it specifically wasn't a lottery system and that the winner isn't random but is vetted and picked before announcement, which is evidently legal.

    E: Source

    Quote:

    In court Monday, Musk’s lawyers acknowledged that the super PAC isn’t picking winners “by chance.”

    “There is no prize to be won,” Musk lawyer Chris Gober said, and the winners “are not chosen by chance.” Therefore, it is not a lottery, Gober argued.

    Instead, Gober said the so-called “prize” is actually compensation for serving as a spokesperson for the super PAC – and the recipients of the $1 million “are selected based on their suitability to serve as spokesperson for America PAC.” They “earn” the million dollars as payment for their work.

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  • [–] 39 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I feel like implying it's a lottery that you can win should still be seriously punished but then I remember which reality we're in and that nothing matters if you're rich

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago

    You can do whatever the fuck you want, as long as you have an expensive enough lawyer who will "correct" you, when people point out what you're doing is illegal.

    It's by design though. None of this is because of loopholes. What is happening is because the people in power wanted it to be possible.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Did the SC make bribes legal?

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    • [–] 72 points 1 year ago

    I’m totally cool with doxxing all these invertebrates’ personal info

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    [–] 56 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    How is this still not illegal?

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  • [+] 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    It is illegal

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  • [+] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago*

    The laws written down are merely the highwater mark of how democratic a society is in theory, or they are the lowwater mark of what the ruling class has been allowed to get away with in public in terms of brutally oppressing the lower classes, but they never represent a true accountability of the rich, merely a record of the struggle between the ruling class and the rest of society, a reading of the balance of scales at any given moment that the rich no matter what can still bat away ildly like an annoying fly in their face unless we take the fundamental issues with capitalism and wealth inequality seriously.

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    • [–] 53 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    The USA would need a reformation and political purge after Trump to become a first world democratic country again. And put a lot of these motherfuckers into prison for life via special tribunals. Including half the supreme court lol

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Yeah. At this point nothing short of an armed revolutionary takeover is gonna cause anything to move back. And that's not happening either.

    There is no "becoming a first world democracy again". That ship has sailed. Fascism doesn't have term limits. And we are in the thick of it now.

    I think one thing the rest of the "first world democracies" missing is that the imperial core doesn't just go Fascist alone. It drages the rest of you down with it. Dont get comfortable watching from a distance and shaking your head at the "silly Americans". Your democracy's are next.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    As always America is at forefront of the world, and where the USA leads Europe will follow! 😒

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Think of it less about nation states and more about where the concentration of capital is and it makes a lot more sense.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I think by now it's mostly driven by social media which is international in algorithm, access to influence and partly in content. Or useful propaganda is repackaged by european politicians and influences. Monkey see monkey do. And we only have 3 international news agencies, so only really 3 news papers.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    We don't need back, we need forward, and a lot of us aren't interested in giving into doomerism. It is still the time for peaceful resistance and that might still work. It might not, and if it doesn't the time for widespread destruction of property and civil disobedience will come and that might work, and then soon after the time for armed resistance will come and that might work. If it all fails we can at least make them hurt and show the world that we don't take fascism lying down. It's dark times but we don't get out of them by giving up.

    Hell, there's a chance we come out of this better than we were before, and not just because the bar is so fucking low. We (americans) might find our passion for liberty and justice again and we might find our courage and we might express our decades of resentment against the creeping in of inequality by swinging to the left with new and more inclusive rights and protections for working class people. That'd be nice but even if we can't have a good ending it's still the right thing to do to fight fascism with everything we have.

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    • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This man is an existential threat to democracy

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    • [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    Ending hunger, one judge at a time

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    [–] 16 points 1 year ago

    I guess it's technically not bribery if you only defrauded people into thinking they were going to receive a bribe. /s

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    [+] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
    [deleted]
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    [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    You want to support this guy, you better get used to seeing rigged elections.

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    [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Shitty and totally legal. Slaps something So much fuckin freedom in this baby.

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    [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    They're practicing for how their voting will work

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    [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    It’s not a lottery. They just pick the winner based on their alignment with their values so the can use that person in their political aspirations. That’s what happened in previous “giveaways”

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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is obviously laughable as a corruption move. Will it bring consequences ?

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