Posted on 10/25/2024 9:57:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
Vice President Kamala Harris claims former President Donald Trump will weaponize the government against his political opponents, but Democrats are already targeting one of Trump’s chief supporters – Elon Musk.
Musk’s enterprise has increasingly been targeted since he purchased Twitter in 2022 and began staunchly supporting Trump. Washington’s bureaucracy and thousands of regulations enable officials to target him, experts told the Daily Caller.
“I think if Harris wins, they will launch multiple criminal investigations of Elon Musk,” former U.S. District Attorney for Utah and Executive Director of Right On Crime, Brett Tolman, told the Daily Caller. “There’s no question.”
Musk’s companies are currently tangled up in numerous battles over federal investigations and regulations. Musk’s companies Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and X are all involved in investigations and regulatory battles with various agencies.
Tolman said other countries could target Musk and his company X, formerly Twitter.
“You have countries that have indicated they’re going to launch an investigation,” Tolman stated. “So, I think it is a pivotal moment for Elon Musk.”
X was recently reinstated after a months-long feud with the Brazilian government over its content moderation policies. But European authorities have indicated they could retaliate against Musk for being too supportive of free speech.
Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and author of “The Power And The Money,” Tevi Troy, told the Caller there are risks to Musk supporting Trump – even if he wins. Powerful CEOs have openly allied with presidents in the past, he said, but it can be fraught. He pointed to the founder of Time Magazine, Henry Luce.
“Luce put his thumb on the scale in the way few CEOs have done history,” Troy said. “He was very anti-Franklin Roosevelt and tried to defeat him in multiple elections, unsuccessfully.”
Luce also backed Dwight Eisenhower for president in 1952 and directed his magazine to write favorably of the future president. There are parallels between Luce and Musk’s support for presidential candidates, Troy told the Caller. He emphasized that Time’s reputation suffered because it was viewed as biased, and that such action opens it up to unequal enforcement of the law.
“They can pick on an individual company or individual CEO and say, we’re going to enforce every regulation against this guy, right?” Troy said. “So if Harris wins, that’s a potential danger.”
It is not unique for federal agencies to target Musk’s businesses during the Biden-Harris administration.
“There are countless examples of the DOJ acting with their hands on the scale,” Tolman told the Caller.
Last year, the Department of Justice sued SpaceX for allegedly discriminating against refugees and asylees in the hiring process, according to a DOJ press release.
“You saw a drastic change that started to occur with Obama and now Biden,” Tolman told the Caller. “It’s unrecognizable, the department right now.”
The DOJ also set its sights on the construction of Musk’s Texas home and launched an investigation last September, according to TechCrunch.
“I’ve never seen the DOJ act and behave this way before,” Tolman emphasized.
The DOJ is not the only agency targeting Elon Musk – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegedly tried to influence an independent assessor to “punish” Musk’s platform, according to the House Judiciary Committee.
Since Musk acquired Twitter, the FTC has sent 16 demand letters to X Corp, according to legal documents from 2023. That was an escalation from the 28 demand letters issued in the over ten years prior to Musk taking over.
Musk was recently blasted by Democrats for handing out $1 million checks to signees of his pro-Constitution petition every day before Nov. 5. The petition was launched by his “America PAC” to support the First and Second Amendments.
Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called the initiative “deeply concerning.”
“It’s something that law enforcement could take a look at,” he added.
Musk stated online that signees of his petition do not need to be aligned with a particular political party. He added they do not even have to vote to qualify.
Yesterday, reports from CNN and the New York Times said the DOJ sent a letter to Musk’s America PAC, warning that the $1 million check giveaway could violate federal law. The letter was reportedly sent from the DOJ’s public integrity section, an entity involved in matters pertaining to election law, according to CNN. (RELATED: Legal Group Sues State Department, Seeks Records On Biden-Harris Admin’s Alleged Censorship)
“The scales of justice are supposed to be, you know, even, balanced,” Tolman told the Caller. “[The] DOJ is supposed to be blindfolded and just administer the law regardless of who it is.”
Another risk to Musk could be brewing in the form of “Russian interference” allegations. Former and current officials in the U.S., Europe and Russia claim that since late 2022 Musk has had “regular contact” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday. The article notes that Musk’s companies have government contracts, and the billionaire has a security clearance.
Allegations of ties to Russia have been weaponized in the past against the Democrats’ political opponents, most notably against Trump. “Russian collusion” later proved to be false when special counsel Robert Mueller stated he did not find cooperation between the Russian government and Trump’s campaign.
Sources told the Caller there are too many regulations on the books – and they could be weaponized against Musk.
“[There are] agencies in agencies, committees and lawmaking bodies, or rule making bodies that are within those agencies,” Tolman told the Caller. “So it’s turned into a massive web – there needs to be incredible changes.”
He added that Trump implemented a rule which mandated agencies must slash two regulations before passing a new one, and that there have been efforts by some officials to cut back on unnecessary government regulations, but it will take a president who is outside of the system to get something done. (RELATED: Supreme Court’s Move To Gut Administrative State Tees Up Trouble For Biden’s Green Power Plant Rules)
“It’s going to take someone that is actually willing to do that,” Tolman said. “The power of the bureaucrats – it’s real and substantial.”
Government regulations have dramatically expanded over the past 150 years, Troy told the Caller.
“When Rockefeller was building his monopoly, there was no regulatory body or regulatory rules to stop him, and now the government has rules on just about everything a company can do,” he said.
He said CEOs need to pay attention to federal regulations and understand where the company stands with the federal government. “If you’re not paying attention to that and staying on top of it, you’re not going to be a successful CEO in the current era,” Troy said.
He stated that because there are so many regulations, the government does not have the resources to enforce every single one. However, it can choose which laws to enforce and who to target, which Troy called “selective enforcement.”
That selective enforcement could conceivably serve as a blueprint to target other powerful Trump supporters should he lose the election. Musk isn’t the only Silicon Valley mogul to shift toward support for Trump in recent years; others, like Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire, San Francisco billionaire David Sacks, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen are among the numerous millionaires and billionaires who have backed Trump.
They, too, could face additional regulatory hurdles not unlike Musk.
Troy said Democratic rhetoric demonizing figures like Musk serves as a greenlight to target them.
“The rhetoric criticizing Musk from senior leaders in the Democratic Party made very evident to bureaucratic enforcement types that going after Musk would be a costless and potentially praiseworthy activity,” he said.
If I had the kind of money Elon has...just saying
Democrats need to be sent to work camps in Alaska...
Sounds like Blackmail
Their is just their first step—to use this to stop him from campaigning for Trump. They will not stop there.
Name names or it’s just BS.
Well, John Galt was placed under a form of house arrest with the expectation that he could fix a crumbling society within the confines of the very government that destroyed that society. Chances are Elon would just be arrested, or become the target of endless lawfare.
He doesn’t strike me as the type who can be ‘made’ to do much that he doesn’t want to do.
Expect Elon to go “offshore” if this happens.
Tesla is a monopoly? How many companies make EVs?
Interesting-I am currently dictating an audiobook right now, written back in 1912:
“John Hancock: The Picturesque Patriot” by Lorenzo Sears.
The author makes the point that he was viewed in later years by others as “The Picturesque Patriot” because of his flashy manner of dress which would have been acceptable in any royal court around the world.
But it is also interesting to note that he was among the first big-name Colonialists to appear in the sights of the British Crown for elimination due to his commercial pursuits, which came into contact with the commercial tyranny against the being implemented against the colonies.
He was the owner of the sloop Liberty which was seized by the British in 1768 and they charged him with smuggling. (The Liberty was converted to a Royal Navy vessel, renamed HMS Liberty, and was burned to the waterline by patriots in 1769 in Newport, RI)
His name was big, as was his reputation in the Royal Circles.
He was the most prominent target even before Sam Adams and Joseph Warren were. But he had connections that were different from those of Adams and Warren, and it protected him in various ways.
Simply un-American.
Ship them all out to China. They would be more at home there.
The democrat party isn’t fearing high-profile Trump Supporters like Elon Musk but the nation seeing all the damage their party has caused and now the ramifications are on the move to dissolve the party.
They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.
I wonder how many hypocrite Democrats own Tesla stocks or through Mutuals?
Ay carrumba, those Democrats are vicious, vindictive slimebags.
Democrats are the thugs, goons and totalitrians we always knew they were...and their butt boys in the 'MSM' cover for them. It's disgusting.
They just ordered NASA (Nelson stooge) to go after Musk. I hope Trump team is taking notes.
If Trump gets back in power Trump would destroy those countries
Countries that engage in lawfare against X or other US companies… hyperbolically speaking.
Musk’s companies are currently tangled up in numerous battles over federal investigations and regulations. Musk’s companies Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and X are all involved in investigations and regulatory battles with various agencies.
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Much ado about nothing. Indeed, it’s a dog whistle. Anyone as high profile as Musk will be sued by the libs on SOMETHING no matter what. I was sued by the libs for 30 odd years and I was no where NEAR Musk’s profile.
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