Latest news with #Musk-aligned
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. visitors are already being asked if they have applied for a ‘Trump Card Visa' on immigration forms
U.S. permanent residents and foreign visitors to the U.S. are already being asked if they have applied for a 'Trump Card Visa' on immigration forms, according to Wired. This comes as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has begun implementing digital infrastructure for the new $5 million golden visa immigration program after President Donald Trump initially floated the idea in February. The visa would allow wealthy people to buy residency in the U.S., but how it would work remains unclear, as federal legislation outlines how many permanent residency cards can be issued annually and who can receive them. David Bier, writing for the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute in February, noted that Trump 'cannot lawfully sell green cards in excess of Congress's caps' and that 'People will be paying for something Trump cannot provide.' DOGE has gone from being tasked with increasing government productivity to handling essential parts of the U.S. immigration system within four months. Representatives from the Musk-aligned group have been working with officials from Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the State Department, as well as other agencies for several weeks on building out the golden visa program, Wired reported. DOGE associates Marko Elez and Edward Coristine are managing the project. One area Musk's team has been focusing on is how to plug current U.S. government systems to verifying travelers and immigration applications into what could become a separate website for the golden visa. The domain was registered in late March, according to records published by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The site has subdomains connected to CBP, the State Department, and the USCIS Electronic Immigration System, the central gateway for processing visa paperwork. The Trump Card Visa is now also a part of the application for Global Entry, which is a program operated by CBP that allows pre-approved U.S. citizens, green card holders, and travelers from some countries to save time at the airport by entering via a fast lane. Those who apply for Global Entry using a foreign passport are currently given an option to say that they have 'submitted an application for a Trump Card Visa,' according to Wired. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on the All In podcast in March, claiming to have sold 1,000 gold cards, adding that Trump had estimated that they could sell one million cards in total. Lutnick said the concept was to let people buy the right to live in the U.S. and pay taxes on the income earned within the U.S. Stuart Anderson, the executive director of the trade and immigration nonpartisan think tank the National Foundation for American Policy, told Wired that 'It's not clear what the legal basis is, unless they do something such as have Congress pass a bill through both houses and the president signs it, which is called legislation.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stephen Colbert Gleefully Burns Elon Musk With 'Terrible News' About His Influence
'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night celebrated Susan Crawford's victory this week over Brad Schimel in the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race. 'A lot of folks are happy about this partly because it keeps the court's 4-3 liberal majority,' Colbert said. 'But mostly because it is terrible news for Elon Musk.' Musk and Musk-aligned groups spent some $20 million to help Schimel, with Musk even handing out million-dollar checks to voters. 'Spending all that money, spending all that cash, just to watch the whole thing burst into flames,' Colbert said. 'Now he knows what it's like to buy a Tesla.' Crawford won by 10 points in a state known for extremely close elections despite Musk's attempts to use his cash to swing the election. 'Musk didn't just lose,' Colbert gloated. 'He got crushed.' See more in his Wednesday night monologue:
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
"Failed Spectacularly": Critics Are Trolling Elon Musk After The "Humiliating" Loss In Wisconsin And It's A Moment You're Allowed To Enjoy
Scott Olson / Getty Images And his critics are overjoyed. Musk and Musk-aligned groups spent some $20 million to help conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Musk over the weekend claimed the outcome of the race 'will be important for the future of civilization.' He even gave out two $1 million checks to voters in a publicity stunt for Schimel. Voters instead selected the progressive candidate, Susan Crawford, which ensures the court will retain its 4-3 liberal majority. 'He tried to spend his unlimited resources to buy a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on MSNBC on Tuesday night. 'And it failed spectacularly.' Jeffries urged Republicans to walk away from Musk, whom he called an 'unelected, unpopular, unhinged and unAmerican billionaire puppet-master.' Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, sank millions into the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race and came up empty on Tuesday night. Observers on social media were just as blunt ― even on Musk's own platform, X, where they couldn't help but revel in his defeat: Scott Olson / Getty Images This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Buzz Feed
02-04-2025
- Business
- Buzz Feed
"Failed Spectacularly": Critics Are Trolling Elon Musk After The "Humiliating" Loss In Wisconsin And It's A Moment You're Allowed To Enjoy
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, sank millions into the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race and came up empty on Tuesday night. And his critics are overjoyed. Musk and Musk-aligned groups spent some $20 million to help conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Musk over the weekend claimed the outcome of the race 'will be important for the future of civilization.' He even gave out two $1 million checks to voters in a publicity stunt for Schimel. Voters instead selected the progressive candidate, Susan Crawford, which ensures the court will retain its 4-3 liberal majority. 'He tried to spend his unlimited resources to buy a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on MSNBC on Tuesday night. 'And it failed spectacularly.' Jeffries urged Republicans to walk away from Musk, whom he called an 'unelected, unpopular, unhinged and unAmerican billionaire puppet-master.' Observers on social media were just as blunt ― even on Musk's own platform, X, where they couldn't help but revel in his defeat: America hates Elon Musk so much that he can literally wave millions of dollars under voters' noses and they'll still tell him to fuck off. You love to see it. — Kat Abughazaleh (@abughazalehkat) April 2, 2025 Congratulations to @crawfordforwi and our friends in Wisconsin on delivering a humiliating defeat to Elon Musk and Donald Trump who tried to buy this race. Along with tonight's results in Florida, Republicans should be very nervous about 2026. — Florida Democrats (@FlaDems) April 2, 2025 Another reminder that money can't buy you love, @elonmusk. — Bradley Whitford (@bradleywhitford) April 2, 2025 Please send @elonmusk to all the close races! — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) April 2, 2025 Brutal result here for @elonmusk who dropped $26+ million in this race and still got his ass handed to him. Money can't cure being a politically toxic asshole. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) April 2, 2025 Elon Musk is not good at this. — JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) April 2, 2025 How do we get Elon Musk to campaign everywhere? Asking for all Democrats. — Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) April 2, 2025 Elon Musk went to Wisconsin where he said the "destiny of humanity" rested on the election. Tonight the voters agreed and rejected his and Trump's undemocratic vision for the country. — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 2, 2025 Oh boy he's going to be big mad. — Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) April 2, 2025 It's good to see that some things are worth more to voters than Elon's millions! — Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) April 2, 2025 almost like large numbers of real voters really, really dislike Elon Musk — Leah Greenberg (@Leahgreenb) April 2, 2025 Reality check for mega billionaires trying to buy elections — Steven Mazie (@stevenmazie) April 2, 2025 yo @elonmusk maybe you shouldn't have showed up to wisconsin man, i think people hate you there — hasanabi (@hasanthehun) April 2, 2025 Elon Musk put on a cheesehead, threw $20 million at Wisconsin, and still got dunked on. He paid people to collect signatures, paid people to canvas, and even tried bribing voters with million-dollar giveaways. Judge Susan Crawford easily defeated Musk's handpicked candidate. — Shea Jordan Smith (@shea_jordan) April 2, 2025 Scott Olson / Getty Images
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
"Our courts are not for sale": In setback for Musk, liberal candidate wins Wisconsin court seat
Money can't buy everything, it seems — not even $25 million of Elon Musk's money. The billionaire and President Donald Trump ally took drastic measures that critics said were illegal, such as giving $1 million checks to some voters who signed a petition, in order to overturn the 4-3 liberal majority on the state Supreme Court. But it was not enough to stop Susan Crawford from defeating her conservative opponent by a 10-pont margin. Crawford's victory, buoyed by a surge in turnout by left-leaning voters, provides a much-needed boost for liberal hopes in a time when the party leadership has often seemed divided, listless and incapable of effectively opposing Trump. Her opponent, Brad Schimel, ran on his loyalty to Trump and conceded much of the spotlight to Musk, who personally traveled to campaign in the state, at one point donning a cheeseboard. In an election that largely became a referendum on Musk and Trump's slashing of federal government services, the billionaire's presence seemed to animate furious Democrats — and perhaps others feeling the brunt of the cuts — more than Republicans. Never before had a single donor sought to influence a judicial election to the degree that Musk did. His super PAC spent $11.5 million on a ground game that urged voters to help Trump by supporting Schimel. Another Musk-aligned group poured $7.7 million into television ads, according to AdImpact. Voter turnout, remarkably high for an off-year, nominally non-partisan state election, blew past the numbers for the previous Wisconsin Supreme Court race: With nearly all precincts reporting, more than 2 million voters are reported to have cast a ballot compared to 1.8 million in 2023. "Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court,' Crawford said in her victory speech Tuesday night. 'Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price. Our courts are not for sale.' With Crawford's triumph, the Wisconsin Supreme Court appears poised to deliver liberal victories in pending cases on abortion and labor rights. Democrats and voting rights activists also anticipate that the court will order new congressional maps to replace the current, heavily gerrymandered map passed by GOP legislators, which gives Republicans a 6-2 edge in seats. Crawford herself had told liberal donors that her campaign offered a chance to put two further GOP-held seats in play, which Musk and Schimel repeatedly invoked. 'What's happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives — that is why it is so significant,' Musk said at one rally. 'And whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it's going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.'
