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Elon Musk made a last-ditch plea to Wisconsin voters during his appearance in front of a fawning panel of Fox News personalities hours before polls closed in a closely watched state Supreme Court race.
The world’s wealthiest man and his allies have spent more than $20 million to boost a conservative judge’s campaign in a race that could determine the ideological balance of the state’s highest court, among the first high-stakes elections during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Musk and his political action committee are pouring money into elections across the country to support Republican candidates, including legally dubious pledges to “personally” hand voters $1 million checks and give out $50 to anyone who takes a picture of themselves outside a voting booth after voting for the candidate he supports.
The billionaire’s press blitz to support a conservative candidate in Wisconsin follows widespread protests outside Tesla businesses and a wave of vandalism targeting Tesla vehicles to protest his efforts to purge the federal workforce and gut entire agencies with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“This is fundamentally a case of terrorism … for the purpose of intimidation. It’s harming innocent people. It’s really terrible,” he told Fox’s The Five on Tuesday.
“What we actually have to get to is the people who are organizing and paying for these attacks and protests,” he said. “The people who are actually throwing the molotov cocktails, they are the foot soldiers. We need to go after the generals.”
Asked if he knows who those “generals” are, Musk said “we know.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi is seeking a 20-year prison sentence for a Colorado man accused of firebombing a Tesla dealership last month, among several attacks against Tesla property in apparent response to the billionaire’s unprecedented role in the Trump administration that several judges and legal experts have warned is blatantly unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have joined dozens of Tesla Takedown protests across the U.S., Canada and Europe outside Tesla showrooms.
Musk has repeatedly accused his critics of being paid protesters while spending millions of dollars himself to influence voters.
He also recently suggested that crowds attending rallies hosted by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were paid to be there and are moved from event to event. “The Dems just move around the same group of paid ‘protesters’,” said Musk, without supply any evidence, sharing a post that accused the lawmakers of “astroturfing” support.
Musk has characterized Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court election in apocalyptic terms with the “destiny of humanity” and future of “the world” at stake, noting that the court could redraw Wisconsin’s congressional maps while Republicans have only a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.
“If you lose control of the House, there will be nonstop impeachment hearings, there will be nonstop hearings and subpoenas, they’re gonna do everything possible to stop the agenda the American people voted for,” Musk told Fox’s The Five.
The race “could be decided by a single voter, that’s how close it is,” according to Musk.
