Yeah sure Musk could write a check and not lose a minutes sleep. But so could many others. There is an optics issue. Trump probably has a lot of pride. He pleadings saying 30 underwriters rejected him is as much legal maneuvering as it may be real. I suggest that under the eyes of the law he has to show that his reasonable options are exhausted and thus the court should grant some relief. I think Trump could make other moves but this is a legal requirement to show the courts that all regular normal options are foreclosed.
Musk for his part has no real need to do this either way. I don’t see it as Musk “buying access” so to speak. No President will refuse his calls. He is as big or bigger than Howard Hughes in his day. Musk is needed by world leaders everywhere. He’s got his fingers in governments all over the place. His satellite internet thing is a military need. He is the only viable EV maker at this time.
So if Musk were to get involved, I’d say he would do it with a very public pronouncement… something like “I am not doing this for Trump, I am doing it because I believe this is an injustice and against American values. I want to help Trump get his day in court and think the system was rigged and the law is unfair so I want to let Trump play it out and not let the government break a person with unfair or unreasonable demands. That is not the America I believe in”. Something like that. He would need to keep it somewhat above board and with the appearance of arms length. He would need it to be a secured loan, which is also probably a legal and tax requirement as well. Assuming he is willing to step in, he has to walk a fine line and make clear why eg not because he wants Trump to be POTUS but because he thinks Trump has been unfairly targeted for political reasons and he wants to see it play all the way out in the interest of the future of the country.
And even then, I can’t imagine Trump really liking the optics of it. Trump is a strident and proud man. He doesn’t want to look weak or reliant on anyone. He will look like he’s eating some crow no matter what option he takes.
I still say Bankruptcy is an option. It should technically halt all proceedings. But there too, it will be a PR hit and he’ll have to expend a lot of goodwill trying to explain to the American people that he had no choice, that he is a victim of political persecution and this was his last resort. The other side of BK is that all his financials become essentially public records. Something he’s tried to avoid for a long time.
“I still say Bankruptcy is an option.”
Unless TPTB forbids that. When Alex Jones was hit with a huge financial penalty, the judge decreed that he was forbidden to declare bankruptcy.