Elon Musk set down his “chainsaw for bureaucracy” on Sunday to put on his cheesehead hat as he handed out $2 million to voters in Wisconsin’s tightly contested Supreme Court election.
At a Green Bay rally for Republican bet Brad Schimel, Musk appeared on stage wearing the cheese-shaped headwear beloved by Packers fans and Wisconsinites alike.
Musk leaped into the air in his signature jump before signing the cheesehead hat and tossing it into a cheering crowd.
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Before handing out $1 million checks to two voters, Musk said his point was to get clout.
“The reason for the checks is that it’s really just to get attention,” he said. “When I do these things, it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds, and then they’ll run it on every news channel, and I’m like, ‘I couldn’t pay them, it would cost, like, 10 times more.‘”
“This is just helpful for getting attention,” Musk went on. “It’s kind of fun to see the legacy media lose their minds over it too.”
The world’s richest man has been deeply involved in efforts to rally votes for Schimel in the Tuesday race to fill a seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority.
“I think it’s one of those things that may seem like it’s obviously important in the state of Wisconsin, but I think it could actually be important for the country as well, and maybe for the world,” Musk said.
The Musk-backed America PAC earlier vowed to pay Wisconsin voters $100 in exchange for signing a “Petition in Opposition to Activist Judges.”
The billionaire later upped the ante, announcing that he would hand out $2 million to two voters who signed the petition opposing judges who have blocked the Trump administration’s sweeping moves to remake the federal government.
Wisconsin’s attorney general sued Musk in a bid to halt the million-dollar payouts, but the state’s Supreme Court refused to take the case in a last-minute decision released just before Musk took the stage.
“We have this petition against activist judges because judges should be simply interpreting the law and not making the law,” Musk said. “We just want judges to be judges, which is a reasonable thing to ask for.”
President Donald Trump has also thrown his weight behind Schimel, dismissing the Democratic contender Susan Crawford as “a disaster” in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
“Wisconsin Values are perfectly represented by Brad Schimel,” Trump wrote. “He is Conservative, Strong and, above all, SANE. His Opponent is a Liberal Lunatic who will throw our Country, and the State of Wisconsin, into TOTAL CHAOS. Vote for Brad Schimel!”
Though the crowd at the Green Bay rally appeared to be packed with Musk supporters, some protesters heckled the billionaire as he spoke.
“It was inevitable that at least a few Soros operatives would be in the audience,” Musk said. “Give my regards to George! Say ‘Hi’ to George for me.”
Before the event, people exchanged boos and cheers as a Tesla Cybertruck circled the venue.
