The amount of money surrounding Trump and Harris is staggering. Currently ahead in the count for most billionaire donors is the Harris campaign at 83, including 28 who have donated at least a million dollars. For Trump the numbers are 52 and 26 respectively. The actual numbers shown by Federal Election Commission filings in December could be even higher.

In August, Harris’ performance at the Democratic National Convention led to record-breaking donations, bringing her campaign up to $540 million raised in less than a month. Altogether, the money behind candidates’ individual campaigns and associated political action committees, or PACs, have hit $2.5 billion in total.

No matter who wins the election, the richest people in America will have a person in office who is committed to their interests far and above the interests of millions of working people. 

That is the reality of elections under capitalism—some people are able to afford a lot more democracy than the rest of us. The numbers still show that there is a lot on the line for the capitalist class when it comes to the result of this election.

An endorsement letter for Harris went out in September that was signed by 90 business leaders including Mark Cuban and James Murdoch. In the signers’ view, a Harris presidency would “continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment.” 

Despite so far avoiding the dangers of a hard economic landing and recession, the economy is in a fragile position. The dominating imperialist role of the United States has been undermined for years by competition with China and now the New York Times is running stories about the need for the army to prepare itself for the danger of war with China. 

Trump has leaned into this threat to declare that he would not raise taxes on the rich, but would impose tariffs, including up to 60% tariffs on Chinese goods. Many in the ruling class see this as dangerous for the future of the US economy and are hedging their bets on Harris. 

For a significant group of billionaires the uncertainty of Trump is too much to stomach, but the Democrats’ commitment to genocidal war and high cost of living for working people remains good business.

Elon Musk’s Big Giveaway

Not every rich person is nervous about a second Trump presidency. In fact, some sections of the capitalist class are hard at work to try and usher it in. Elon Musk, predicted to be the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, has been investing disturbing amounts of money and effort into the Trump campaign. 

Musk has given at least $132 million to elect Trump and other Republicans on the ballot this week which includes $43 million he added to his super PAC just this month. After calling the 2020 election into question and laying the basis to challenge any unfavorable results this year, Trump and Musk have been going to great pains to carry out even more blatantly undemocratic campaign strategies.

Musk is currently leading up a giveaway of $1 million a day to selected registered voters who sign a petition declaring their support for the first and second amendments. Plain and simple, this billionaire is tossing around money in exchange for votes. Before they try to steal the election, the Trump campaign is happy to try and buy it off first. 

Musk has been dodging attacks on the legality of the giveaway by claiming that winners are being paid to be spokespeople for the campaign. Essentially the richest man in the world is buying publicity for the Trump campaign from everyday voters at $100 a pop.

Musk is working hard to play the role of the Logan Roy-esque kingmaker, even if his whole persona is a little more Kendall. Along with his newfound passion for electioneering comes a lot of perks, including the chance to be a part of Trump’s cabinet as ‘chief government efficiency officer’ where he hopes to cut the US budget by $2 trillion. This means attacks on public services, increased privatization, and attacks on public sector unions.

Elections should not be for sale to the highest bidders. The Supreme Court upheld their Citizens United decision in 2010, which allowed for the existence of PACs and super PACS, giving corporate entities uninhibited donation potential to political candidates. It’s what led to Mitt Romney’s disgusting perspective that “corporations are people, my friend,” and has significantly increased the amount of money going to political campaigns. 

We should fight against campaign finance rules that benefit the rich, but under capitalism billionaires have plenty of ways to buy the support of politicians and influence elections. The receipts show that they have the two major parties in their pocket. 

We need to build a new, independent party of struggle with elected leaders that are democratically accountable to working people and doesn’t take any billionaire or corporate cash. An initial step towards that in this election is to cast a protest vote for left anti-war candidate Jill Stein and demonstrate firm opposition to the two parties of the billionaires.