‘Are We Really Living in a Democracy?’ Asks Sanders After Musk Drops $10 Million on US Senate Race: “Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections.”
Source: Silent-Resort-3076
‘Are We Really Living in a Democracy?’ Asks Sanders After Musk Drops $10 Million on US Senate Race: “Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections.”
Source: Silent-Resort-3076
29 Comments
Snippet:
* After flirting last year with forming his own political party, far-right billionaire Elon Musk is funding Republican political candidates once again.
​
Axios reported on Monday that Musk recently made a massive
$10 million donation to bolster Nate Morris, a MAGA candidate
who is vying to replace retiring US Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
* Axios described the massive donation, the largest Musk has ever given to a Senate candidate, as “the biggest sign yet that Musk plans to spend big in the 2026 midterms, giving Republicans a formidable weapon in the expensive battle to keep their congressional majorities.”
* Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reacted with disgust to the news, and said that Musk’s enormous donation was indicative of a broken campaign finance system.
* “Are we really living in a democracy when the richest man on earth can spend as much as he wants to elect his candidates?” Sanders asked in a social media post.
​
“The most important thing our nation can do is end Citizens United
and move to public funding of elections,” he added, referring to
the 2010 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for unlimited
spending on elections by corporations. “Billionaires can’t be
allowed to buy elections.”
* Democratic Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap, currently running to represent Maine’s second congressional district, also denounced Musk for throwing his weight around to buy politicians.
* “Billionaires buy our elections, rig the tax code, and undermine our democracy,” wrote Dunlap. “Working people deserve a government that works for them—not for billionaires like Elon Musk.”
* Musk is no stranger to spending big to help elect Republicans, having spent more than $250 million in 2024 to help secure President Donald Trump’s victory.
Musk did this all through the presidential run and nothing happened.
Bernie spitting out facts.
Billionaires are openly bribing members on the SCOTUS
In case anyone was wondering, $10 million to Elon Musk is the equivalent of someone who has $100,000 donating $1.67 to a political campaign.
Elon Musk is literally buying election influence with his pocket change
So you mean Musk was full of shit when he said he was backing congressional Republicans in 2022 simply because balancing the executive branch was the most important thing to him?
I’m surprised Musk hasn’t been arrested for Ketamine possession.
Musk is a criminal immigrant. He should be denaturalized and deported to a Trump concentration camp.
Nope, we don’t live in a democracy in the USA and haven’t in decades.
Bernie is gonna need to realize this the game and his way of political thinking isn’t gonna happen here in America.
I wanted it to be not true! But look at the last decade.
The rich have always had unjust influence in politics. Now they are very blatant about it.
One positive is that Musk money is tainted and once voters see that candidate has Musk money, they’ll vote for someone else.
Hopefully Musk is as successful as he was in the 2025 Wisconsin supreme court race he spent millions on: not at all successful.
It should be incredibly illegal to donate to anyone other than your personal representative or senators in Congress, there should be a hard limit to the amount and all donations should be traceable. No non-human entity (i.e. corporations or special interests) should be able to donate a dime to a campaign.
Presidential campaigns are open to anyone but same limit and public accountability.
No, you aren’t living in a democracy. Not if you can buy this kind of influence.
That sounds more like a plutocracy.
See? This is what the Republicans are doing behind the scenes, while everyone is distracted with hammering Trump.
If we are lucky, France will throw him in prison.
Blame Citizen’s United. Corporations are people too and money is speech so the more you have the louder your voice.
People who still voting republican….
He got away with it last time, he will probably get away with it this time… But I hope I’m wrong.
Conservatives push back against “tax the rich” policies, arguing that billionaires “earned” their wealth and supply jobs while benefitting workers. This is mostly a myth that’s been perpetuated alongside “trickle down” theories.
The truth is, many of these billionaires inherit or stumble into their wealth and they often become richer through exploitative practices. They exploit a system which in turn exploits others. They accrue more wealth just by sitting on it and they are frequently rewarded just for being rich with tax cuts, entitlements, “handouts,” subsidies, even bailouts.
Their secret motto is socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.
This system is also one that disproportionately taxes income over wealth; incentivizing the rich to stockpile their wealth and take out loans to avoid having to pay taxes on it. Debt is a tool for the rich, but a burden for the poor.
These billionaires have an outsized influence over the outcome of our elections and policy making decisions. Some are even appointed to high ranking positions within the government where they use their political power to disrupt labor organizing, to roll back or bypass regulations, to serve employers, and to suppress wages and workers’ rights.
They also have a moratorium on political propaganda, which is partly why we see conservatives forsaking their own self interests to defend and elect the rich.
Throughout Ronald Reagan’s presidency, he maintained that if workers weren’t getting richer, It was solely due to their own moral failures, an idea that has taken hold in the Republican consciousness.
If poverty is a moral failing on the part of the worker, and not a failing of the system, then the poor, the laborers and the marginalized will continue to believe in the myth of the “American dream;” drudging along for low wages; working in poor conditions; surrendering their time and energy to a job that brings little meaning to their lives; dedicating themselves to a business, employer or corporation that often fails to utilize their natural talents and provides nothing of value in return to them outside the value of a dollar.
At the same time, these workers believe that THEIR lives of wealth and luxury are just around the corner. But we cannot all be rich—a feature, not a bug.
For the richest among us to continue amassing wealth, a portion of the populace must continue to endure exploitation and economic repression.
I can’t believe that Bernie is still trying to talk some sense into us. He’s usually right and may be one of the only politicians with a conscience and a heart.
The problem is that Supreme Court made this type of bribery legal.
There was a time when this wasn’t allowed. A person could donate at most about $2000 to a campaign.
Then the Supreme Court came along and created a whopper of a loophole. Corporations had First Amendment “free speech” rights, they said. They couldn’t directly donate to a campaign, but they could put unlimited funds in a Political Action Committee tied to a candidate or party.
After that politicians didn’t care about polls or the will of the people. With that kind of money they could mold public perception any way they wanted come election time. So all they cared about is to keep the PAC money flowing in.
Peter Thiel owns Vice President JD Vance
‘Are We Really Living in a Democracy?’
No
Deport Elon musk
I just can’t wrap my head around how money can influence elections sooooo much. Like, there’s literally no dollar amount in campaign funding, no amount of attack ads, or anything that would make me vote for McConnell, Gaetz, MTG or the like.
Are so many voters just that fucking clueless that they don’t know what the parties stand for at this point? Is there someone out there going “Ya know, I wasn’t really on board with nazis and pedos… but that 30 second add on youtube really sealed the deal”