Elon Musk Makes His First Political Hire—in Promise of Chaos to Come

Elon Musk is making a serious dive into politics, hiring a longtime Republican political adviser.

Chris Young, who has worked as a field organizer for former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the field director for the Republican National Committee, and most recently, a political official at a pharmaceutical trade association, will be helping with Musk’s political initiatives, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing three anonymous sources.

Part of Young’s job will be to help Musk with the pro-Trump America super PAC he founded. Young, who has experience leading Republicans’ voter registration efforts, is also expected to help with field organizing.

The hire is a big step for the billionaire and world’s richest person, whose political involvement has been limited and flaky in the past. Republicans have lamented Musk backing out of grand promises and spending pledges, seeing him as a potential meal ticket and inspiration that doesn’t follow through.

For example, The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Musk planned to donate $45 million per month to the America PAC in support of Donald Trump, raising the hopes of many in the GOP. But the tech mogul later denied that report, saying he’d actually be giving at “at a much lower level.” Musk has engaged in different ways, though, secretly lobbying Trump along with Tucker Carlson to choose J.D. Vance as his running mate, and allowing misinformation to run rife on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), that benefits Trump.

Musk’s super PAC has also been collecting voters’ personal information under the guise of inviting them to register to vote, drawing the ire of state governments and putting the PAC under investigation. And although it’s not $45 million, the PAC has begun spending money, $5.8 million as of two weeks ago, to help Trump’s election efforts. X has been pushing Trump’s advertisements on the social media platform, coinciding with Trump’s buggy interview with Musk on the website.

The new hire suggests that Musk will be making more moves in politics, possibly getting his super PAC involved in political contests besides the presidency, and maybe taking advantage of Young’s field experience and trying to push Trump on a more local level. Either way, a billionaire engaging more in politics and spending a lot of money does not bode well for our democracy, particularly when it’s on behalf of a convicted felon who repeatedly attacks the electoral process.

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed a company run by the daughter of Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush-money case, over faulty allegations of political bias.

Loren Merchan, the president of Authentic Campaigns, a political consulting group that has worked with Democrats, became a focal point of Trump’s attacks against New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. The justice is expected to dole out the former president’s sentence for his hush-money trial on September 18.

In a letter sent Wednesday, the House Judiciary demanded that Authentic Campaigns provide any evidence regarding whether Loren Merchan’s company worked for Trump’s “political adversaries,” and whether she might’ve financially benefited from Trump’s trial and subsequent conviction.

House Republicans have been attempting to get their hands on documents from Authentic Campaigns for the past month, which they hope will prove Trump’s claims that Merchan’s company worked with Trump’s enemies, and therefore her father could be dismissed from the case for bias.

Mike Nellis, the founder of Authentic Campaigns, publicly shared his company’s response to Republicans’ first request for information earlier this month, criticizing the committee for wrongly “villainizing” his colleague.

“Authentic had no role, involvement, or influence whatsoever in those judicial proceedings,” Nellis wrote, claiming that his company had no contracts with Biden for President, Harris for President, or the Democratic National Committee since January 1, 2023.

Authentic Campaigns’ list of clients includes both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaigns, according to its website. In 2019, Harris’s campaign doled out $7.5 million to the firm for digital advertising and creative consulting, and more than $2.1 million in 2020, per CNN. Authentic has also touted Representative Adam Schiff as one of its biggest clients.

Nellis called Trump’s claims that Loren Merchan had raised tens of millions off of Trump’s trial “unequivocally false.” He also lambasted the committee for “using valuable time and taxpayer dollars to perpetuate a false right-wing conspiracy theory,” calling it a “disgraceful misuse of power.”

What started as a long-shot bid to oust Justice Merchan during Trump’s trial has become a quest by his staunchest defenders, such as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, to see his conviction vacated. Trump claimed that Merchan was “totally compromised” because of his daughter’s work for Democrats, and escalated his rhetoric by naming her directly.

Trump’s personal attacks against Merchan’s daughter led to a political firestorm, causing crazed MAGA fanatics to harass and even send death threats to Loren and her colleagues, according to Nellis.

After Merchan placed a gag order on Trump, prohibiting him from making rampant, baseless accusations against the judge, courtroom staff, and family members, Fox News took up the task of claiming Loren’s work was grounds for her father’s dismissal from Trump’s trial.

Earlier this month, Trump’s team had once again requested to delay Trump’s sentencing, suggesting it would mitigate the “appearances of impropriety” created by Loren Merchan’s prior work for Harris, and Nellis’s donations to the Harris-Walz campaign.

Disinformation is already sinking its heavy hand into the 2024 election.

Several MAGA influencers with sizable followings have been revealed to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. One account, @Luna_2K24, accrued nearly 30,000 followers by posting suggestive selfies, including one of a woman in a white bikini captioned “Would You Support Trump Being The President forever?”

But despite garnering the attention of some of the far right’s biggest bulldogs, including MAGA lobbyist Marty Irby, Luna isn’t real. Instead, the woman photographed is German fashion influencer Debbie Nederlof, who told CNN that she was shocked to find that her image was pushing pro-Trump propaganda.

“To be honest, ‘what the f**k?’ was my reaction. That was my reaction, because I have nothing to do with the United States. With Trump, the political things over there. What the hell do I—from a small place in Germany—care about U.S. politics?” Nederlof told CNN.

The X account, @Luna_2K24, was deleted by the time of publication.

At least 17 other European women—from the Netherlands to Russia—have had images of their faces and bodies stolen and artificially altered for use as digital assets to push pro-Trump messaging online, according to a CNN investigation in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience that assessed 56 MAGA accounts.

Many of the accounts reshare each others’ content with blatantly Trumpian hashtags, including #MAGAPatriots, #MAGA2024, and #IFBAP (I Follow Back All Patriots). The images they share feature beautiful young women with artificially altered clothing in order to make otherwise unbranded clothing sport Trump slogans. Some of the accounts’ captions also feature English language errors, which CNN reported could be indicative of “foreign interference.”

Trump himself has also been caught elevating fake images for the benefit of his campaign. Earlier this month, Trump posted a fabricated image of notoriously litigious pop star Taylor Swift clad in red, white, and blue, posing like Uncle Sam before an American flag emblazoned with the text: “Taylor wants YOU to vote for Donald Trump.”

“I accept!” Trump captioned the image.

Trump has also shared A.I.-generated content of himself and X owner Elon Musk dancing together.

When pressed on his apparent affinity for the doctored images, Trump brushed off any responsibility, telling Fox Business correspondent Gary Trimble that he simply “didn’t generate them.”

“Somebody came out. They said, ‘Oh look at this,’” Trump said after a campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina. “These were all made up by other people. A.I. is always very dangerous in that way.”

On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump had some kind of meltdown on his Truth Social profile, all before 10 a.m.

His many posts and “ReTruths” were conspiracy laden, crude, and calling for the death or imprisonment of his enemies. One showed Harris, Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, and other Democrats wearing orange jumpsuits captioned with: “HOW TO ACTUALLY ‘FIX THE SYSTEM.’” Multiple posts had QAnon themes, particularly the slogan “WWG1WGA.” Other posts called for a military tribunal for former President Barack Obama, and attacked the FBI, the Justice Department, and the House January 6 committee.

When his posts weren’t full on fascist, they were simply vulgar instead. One such post showed an old photograph of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton together, with a comment below reading “Funny how blowjobs impacted their careers differently…”

If Trump’s posting binge is a reflection of his state of mind, it’s not a good one. The Republican presidential nominee and convicted felon has experienced many setbacks as of late. On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump for his role in trying to overthrow the 2020 federal election.

Meanwhile, polling shows him neck-and-neck with Harris in the pivotal state of North Carolina, which voted for Trump in the last two elections. A series of revelations from a new book by his former national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, have been particularly damaging. And he’s been whining about the debate coming up against Harris on September 10.

All of this bad news coupled with a conspiracy-laden, sycophantic social media feed cannot be healthy for Trump, particularly with his ongoing cognitive decline. Last week, he accidently praised Harris and Biden, saying they made the country “very safe.” Older voters, typically a reliable voting block for Republicans, reportedly think that he is in poor health, especially regarding his mental condition. And experts see patterns in his speech and behavior that have been worsening for years.

Trump’s campaign staff and his loved ones should be getting the former president to spend less time on social media, especially at his age. But they’re invested in seeing him be himself in the hopes that he will return to the White House. Plus, he’s not likely to heed a good piece of advice if it comes with the slightest threat to his ego.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to revive the Biden administration’s multibillion-dollar student debt relief plan. The decision from the court means Joe Biden’s student loan repayment (SAVE) program will remain stalled until the Eighth Circuit rules, leaving millions of borrowers in legal limbo.

The SAVE plan has been attacked and legally challenged by more than a dozen red states since it was announced one year ago. The Justice Department filed an emergency request to lift an appeals court order that blocked the program, but the justices’ unanimous ruling Wednesday leaves a nationwide injunction in place.

In an unsigned order, the court said the temporary pause will remain in place, as it expects the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a fuller decision on the plan “with appropriate dispatch.”

Biden’s student loan repayment program lowered monthly undergraduate loan payments for low-income Americans and provided earlier loan forgiveness for borrowers with smaller initial loans.

Roughly 7.5 million people signed up for relief through the SAVE plan. In February, the administration announced they would erase $1.2 billion in student debt for over 150,000 borrowers through the SAVE plan. Over four million individuals have a $0 monthly payment under the plan, which would save the typical typical borrower around $1,000 a year, according to the White House.

The case is expected to return to the Supreme Court’s desk. In a decision in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 6-to-3 that Biden could not implement a more wide ranging student debt relief plan without congressional approval.

“This is a recipe for chaos across the student loan system,” Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center told the Associated Press.

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump’s new campaign adviser has left the former president’s team worried that there could soon be chaos within their ranks—which might hurt Trump on the field.

Corey Lewandowski’s sudden and mysterious arrival in the Trump campaign earlier this month initially sparked fear of staffing shake-ups.

While Trump referred to Lewandowski, who served as his campaign manager in 2016, as his “personal envoy,” Lewandowski has reportedly referred to himself as the “campaign chairman.” It’s unclear what his job as a senior adviser entails, and the Trumpworld veteran has attempted to distance himself from early reporting that he was positioned above Trump’s campaign co-managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.

Earlier this month, Puck News reported that Lewandowski’s appointment could spell trouble for LaCivita and Wiles. There was early speculation that the decision to hire him, which came straight from Trump (who apparently loves to stoke interpersonal drama, according to one of his ex-advisers), was meant to spark a power struggle among his senior campaign staff.

Both Wiles and LaCivita remain in their positions as the campaign approaches 60 days until the polls open, and serious concerns that anyone will be ousted have faded. But now, a new fear has emerged among Trump’s team.

The concern now is whether any potential infighting or new appointments might create an unwelcome distraction from the race, people familiar with the matter told The Guardian. This could present a problem for Lewandowski, who has a history of stealing the spotlight from Trump with his own alleged misconduct.

In March 2016, Lewandowski was arrested for intentionally grabbing and bruising the arm of a female reporter. He was charged with misdemeanor battery, although the charges were ultimately dropped because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. At the time, Trump defended him, telling reporters, “I think it’s a very, very sad day in this country when a man could be destroyed over something like that.”

But Lewandowski was fired a few months later. He reportedly also had some infighting with Paul Manafort, who ultimately replaced him.

Lewandowski was later ousted as the head of the Make America Great Again super PAC in 2021, after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward a Trump donor.

Trump communications director Steven Cheung dismissed The Guardian’s reporting. “All of these fabricated stories about the campaign are nothing more than click bait,” Cheung said. “None of these palace intrigue stories have been remotely correct.”

Political reporter Jake Lahut spoke with four Republicans familiar with discussions about Lewandowski’s new position, and who’ve previously worked with the GOP operative, about what his return could mean for the Trump campaign.

With Lewandowski’s reinstatement into Trump’s presidential campaign, one can expect a steady slate of unwieldy messaging events and chaotic press conferences, the sources told Lahut.

In an effort to increase Trump’s exposure in the news cycle—which has more or less been taken over by his new opponent—without breaking the bank, Lewandowski has reportedly been pushing for smaller events.

There are also some concerns that Lewandowski’s return could create drama within the Trump campaign. “There’s probably shit brewing,” one Trumpworld source told LaHut. “Like the old days.”

Donald Trump’s decision to bring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard on his presidential transition team has upset a major Republican donor.

Eric Levine wrote a scathing email commenting on Trump’s move, accusing him of “trying to lose” and saying “It is hard to imagine a more destructive announcement.” 

Levine described Kennedy as “an anti-vax kook who sees conspiracies behind every tree and under every bed,” and attacked Gabbard’s past as a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and co-chair of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. Instead, he recommended that “rather than seeking and coveting the endorsement of fringe candidates with fringe policy positions that offend most Republicans and Independents,” Nikki Haley should be on the transition team.

“It is her voters that he should be focusing on,” Levine wrote.

The GOP fundraiser was already a less-than-enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign, telling Politico last year that the convicted felon “is a metastasizing cancer who if he is not stopped is going to destroy the party.” But in March this year, he had a change of heart, telling other Republicans in a memo that “reluctantly and with reservations, I have decided I will vote for Trump in November.”

Levine’s opinion is a worrying signal for Trump, who still needs Republican donations to mount a strong campaign between now and November. The donor’s views probably mirror that of many other Republicans, donors and rank-and-file alike, who support Trump generally but aren’t diehard MAGA loyalists. His point about Haley may be prescient, as some supporters of Haley’s presidential campaign have already formed a “Haley Voters for Harris” political action group.

Levine called out Trump for focusing on “fringe candidates like RFK and Gabbard” at the end of his message.

“As a former Haley voter and Reagan Republican, I say to you Mr. Trump, speak to me and my follow [sic] Republicans. Reject the fringes. Fight for the middle. If you do not, you will forever be known from this day forward, as the ‘Former President,’” Levine wrote.

J.D. Vance’s press secretary might be even stranger and more frightening than Vance himself.

According to an investigation by The Guardian, the senior aide has a number of connections to far-right think tanks and extremist Christian nationalist groups. Parker Magid was recently promoted to Vance’s press secretary after serving as deputy press secretary since March 2023. Since graduating college in 2021, according to his LinkedIn, Magid has created a troubling “new right” network in a short amount of time.

Before joining Vance’s office, Magid worked for Beck & Stone, a brand consultancy group whose clients include secret societies, “counter-revolutionary” magazines, and think tanks. The firm also has close connections to the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank that is also filled with Vance allies.

Beck & Stone is led by Austin Stone and Andrew Beck. Beck identifies as a “civilizationist,” a rebrand of Christian nationalism.* Earlier this year, Beck wrote in the Claremont Institute’s online publication that “those who want Christian civilization should prioritize re-Christianizing America, not re-nationalizing Christianity.”

Recently, Beck & Stone has done work for the far-right organization the Society for American Civic Renewal. Beck claims to have “created the brand identity, designed the mark, and crafted the website” for the men-only club, which, according to a Guardian analysis of internal SACR documents, wants to replace the government with an authoritarian “aligned regime” to achieve “civilizational renewal.” Beck also claims to be a member.

Magid, along with Beck and Stone, also attended a private fundraising event for then Senate candidate Blake Masters in November 2021. Masters, like Vance, is a Peter Thiel–backed far-right political candidate who keeps losing elections, most recently failing to win the Arizona Republican primary for a House of Representatives seat.

If you need any more proof that Trump’s pick of Vance for vice president shows a frightening vision for a more extremist, Christian nationalist country, just take a look at the company he keeps.

* This article was updated to clarify that Andrew Beck was not a co-founder of the Claremont Institute.

Earlier this month, the Georgia state election board voted to make it easier for county election officials to delay or refuse certification of election results. But internal emails obtained by Rolling Stone and American Doom reveal that the 3–2 vote along MAGA lines was fueled by a “wishlist” of documents to the board’s Donald Trump supporters from conservative county election officials.

“Thank you all for agreeing to provide input on this proposed Rule for Certification Documents needed for Superintendents prior to certification,” Dr. Janice Johnston, a Georgia State election board member, wrote on May 12. “What documents and reports do you need to certify the election results?”

That month, despite acknowledging in emails that the errors he had found had only affected “a few ballots,” Gwinnett County election board member—and local election denier—David Hancock demanded more materials to prove that the election had been rigged.

In one such email, Hancock claimed that tens of thousands of Georgia voters were registered to vote in other states. Johnston seemingly agreed with the evidenceless claim, forwarding an email containing 27,000 duplicate registrations that she believed were a “perfect match” for Hancock’s pitch.

“Assuming this data is correct, the systemic problem is either a failure to detect duplicate registrations or a failure to remove duplicate registrations,” Johnston wrote.

The new election certification rules set the stage for chaos come November, especially considering that at least 70 election officials across 16 counties in key swing states, including Georgia, have been identified as pro-Trump election deniers.

Trump praised the MAGA members of Georgia’s board days before the vote, describing Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King as “pit bulls fighting for victory.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Georgia State Election Board is in a very positive way,” Trump said at his rally in Atlanta. “They’re on fire, they’re doing a great job.”

According to the state election board’s website, the body is “entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and authority to protect all Georgians’ right to cast a ballot.”

“If anyone needed further proof that Donald Trump’s ‘pit bulls’ for ‘victory’ are working in concert with his 2020 election denying attorney, Cleta Mitchell, here it is,” Georgia Democratic Party Chair and U.S. Representative Nikema Williams said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “They’re determined to establish a new power of not certifying an election result should their preferred candidate lose—as Trump did in 2020.”

Georgia has had the largest number of certification refusals since 2020 of anywhere in the country. The five-person board has been accused of ethics violations—including one instance in which its Trump-friendly majority failed to give proper notice to their Democratic colleagues about a meeting that they used to advance changes to state election rules.

Previously unaired footage of Representative Nancy Pelosi around January 6, 2021, shows the former speaker’s unfiltered rage against Donald Trump for leading his supporters to the Capitol.

The footage, captured by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra Pelosi, shows the events of January 5, 6, and 7, including the former House speaker’s evacuation from the Capitol.

“I do not support this,” Pelosi told security personnel as she was escorted out of the Capitol, according to a review of the footage by Politico. “If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the presidency of the United States.”

She criticized the Capitol police and other security officials for being caught off guard.

“How many times did the members ask, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared?’ We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi said. “We’re calling the National Guard, now? It should’ve been here to start out. I just don’t understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?”

Pelosi and other congressional leaders were sent to Fort McNair and watched news footage while they waited for the Capitol to be secured. After Trump’s video statement praising the rioters, repeating his allegations of a stolen election, and telling rioters to go home, they were furious.

“We shouldn’t let him off the hook, Nancy. We issued a statement saying he’s got to make a statement. He comes up with this BS,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, referring to Trump.

“Insurrection. That’s a crime, and he’s guilty of it,” Pelosi replied a minute later.

After finally leaving the Capitol after midnight, Pelosi began to plan how to respond to Trump and the unrest he had fomented.

“I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today,” Pelosi said as she sat exhausted in the back of her SUV. “He’s got to pay a price for that.”

The footage also captured Pelosi on the morning of January 7, preparing to return to the Capitol and planning how to respond to the actions of the previous day. She spoke to top aides about remarks she planned to deliver at a press conference, and tried to keep the focus on Trump as opposed to Capitol law enforcement.

“I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves,” Pelosi said, responding to communications director Henry Connelly recommending a call for Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to resign.

When another aide followed up that “the press is very focused on this,” Pelosi replied that she didn’t “want to have it on a par with the insurrection and impeachment and all of that.”

But, Pelosi didn’t want to say definitively that the House would impeach Trump, because she wasn’t sure she would have every House Democrat on board, particularly the conservative Blue Dog faction.

Pelosi also asked her aides for a list of Trump’s cabinet so that she could identify them by name in her statement to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and have him removed from office. She said she intended to describe the future convicted felon as a “domestic enemy in the White House.” 

“Let’s not mince words about this,” Pelosi said. Her statement would end up leaving out the domestic enemy line as well as Trump’s cabinet.

Republicans on the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee have already issued a statement criticizing Pelosi for shifting “the focus of the failure on President Trump” rather than taking “responsibility for her failure to secure the Capitol grounds on January 6.” But, other footage released earlier this year hasn’t exactly helped their cause. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith is reviving the case against Donald Trump for his actions on that day.