Elon Musk’s America PAC has Republican operatives more than a little concerned about Donald Trump’s ground game.

Nine Republican operatives and canvassers seemed alarmed about issues with the super PAC, which has reportedly collected a plethora of faked canvassing data, NBC News reported Friday.

As the PAC’s phony canvassing numbers were revealed, an operative close to the effort told NBC that “all hell has broken loose” inside the America PAC.

The PAC has reportedly received a large quantity of suspicious data from its canvassers, following reports that some had learned how to spoof their location to create the impression that they’d visited voters’ homes.

Earlier this month, data leaks revealed that roughly 24 percent of door-knocks in Arizona and 25 percent of door-knocks in Nevada in a single week had been flagged as “unusual,” an internal metric used to indicate fake door-knocks. America PAC has spent more than $54 million on its vendor in those states, Blitz Canvassing, which is also organizing efforts in Michigan and North Carolina. Blitz Canvassing is one of four vendors employed by the PAC.

The PAC has pushed back on reports that fake canvassing was impeding Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.

America PAC has also reportedly engaged in dubious treatment of its canvassers. Two canvassers anonymously told NBC News they were made to knock on doors outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, as Hurricane Helene rolled in on September 27. One of them said that their direct manager told them to go door to door, despite leadership instructing them to make calls instead.

"If I go into the troubles that we went through just getting into the field, working, I’m talking about soggy literature, right?” the canvasser told NBC News. “Ponchos on ponchos.”

“It was very bad,” they added.

The second canvasser said that many canvassers quit after that experience.

In Michigan, some canvassers funded by America PAC were reportedly given unrealistically high expectations, under extremely poor working conditions. They claimed that they were threatened financially if they performed poorly. Canvassers said that they’d been misled by the PAC and a video showed that they’d been carted around in the back of a U-Haul, instead of the rental cars they were promised. One canvasser even said they were surprised to learn that they were canvassing on behalf of Trump.

Trump’s allies have practically begged the former president to ditch Musk, and his malfunctioning canvassing efforts, as conservative activists and leaders in battleground states reported that they’ve seen little return from the America PAC’s efforts.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    2 months ago

    Why are canvassers funded at all lmao why the fuck do you need to pay people to do this stuff they’re not paid AT ALL here it’s all volunteer activity.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      2 months ago

      Because King Bazinga wants his new bestie to win, so both of them can be immune to even the faint possibility of consequences.

      • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        2 months ago

        No I mean like, is this normal in america or what? To pay canvassers? It’s really weird to me that you’d have people that might not even care about what they’re canvassing for doing this as they could easily sabotage.

        • dustbunnies [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          another of my million previous jobs was as a paid canvasser! AMA.

          overview that might answer basic questions: I did door-to-door for a lib environmental org back in the early 00s. we worked on local issues and would encourage residents to sign petitions, ask them to rewrite a model letter of concern in their own words (which I would collect at the the of the evening as I walked back through the neighborhood to my dropoff/pickup point), and ask them to contribute financially. my salary was directly tied to my fundraising numbers. everybody at every level of the org did fundraising – the bulk of the org’s money came from the grant-writing and glad-handing that office- and regional managers would do.

          edit: we also did community volunteer work related to the issues each region was working on. one of the activities I participated in was cleaning the gutters of people living near an industrial facility, so we could have the stuff we pulled out tested to see if it was the same deadly shit coming out of the company’s smokestacks. (it was.) I still remember it very vividly – mixed in with the usual leaf litter and whatnot was a copious amount of silvery-grey particulate matter. I think part of the goal was getting proof for the class-action lawsuit some of the residents were trying to do too? idk, I’ll try to remember enough details to dig up a news article or press release or something.

            • dustbunnies [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              I never did personally, can’t speak for anyone else. we were working on making legislators (who had been bought off the corporations polluting these communities) give a shit about the ways their constituents were being affected by pollution the whole time I worked there

              • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                2 months ago

                Oh I did something similar in London but it wasn’t canvassing, we were monitoring air pollution levels and doing it outside every single address, bit by bit. Mapped out air pollution down to a house by house level and proved the link between traffic pollution and health. It contributed to a lot of the traffic calming measures and fees that now affect london traffic.

                All the work we did shouldn’t have been necessary, the link was obvious, but without making things impossible to deny you can never do anything that might hurt capital.

                We probably saved actual lives with that one so I’m pretty proud of contributing.

                • dustbunnies [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  yeah, it was one of my favorite jobs because of that feeling of contribution. there were a couple houses where I cleaned the gutters of people who really thought we were tree-hugger wackos but hey free gutter cleaning, except I could tell the talk about their neighbors being sick and wanting to find evidence to hold that big company accountable actually gave them some pause. 🤷 cleaning someone’s gutters is a small price to pay to make them rethink their situation and reconsider their best interests, if only for a moment.

  • 2812481591 [any, it/its]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    2 months ago

    Earlier this month, data leaks revealed that roughly 24 percent of door-knocks in Arizona and 25 percent of door-knocks in Nevada in a single week had been flagged as “unusual,” an internal metric used to indicate fake door-knocks

    I canvassed for the state democrat party under a consulting firm. I’d estimate we faked at least 25% of our door knocks. It was normally work half the day, then take an hour lunch (on the clock), fake whatever knocks we didn’t get to, go get the 2nd packet of canvass addresses, then work another 60-90 minutes more, then fake the rest of our knocks and chill the rest of the day. it was the same whether you worked with a partner or alone.

    • Dimmer06 [he/him,comrade/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      I canvassed for a Dem pac in 2020 because it paid well. I thought i was grifting them but the fact that I actually at least walked the turfs they gave me made me one of the best canvassers on the team. The guy I worked with most of the time was also one of the best and he was a Republican who voted against the candidate we were canvassing for. One guy was selling drugs as he canvassed and most of the team was highschool aged kids who could barely speak English and clearly did not know or care about what was happening. We took long breaks, spoofed doors, and spent as little time as possible actually talking to voters and they were thrilled with our work.

      There’s no way anything they’re reporting on here is exclusive to Elon’s pac, the Dems are just in denial about how they spend their money.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      2 months ago

      Two narcissists with insufferably dedicated cults blaming one another (narcissists can’t ever accept personal responsibility for failure) slapfighting and siccing their cults one each other would be nice.

  • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    2 months ago

    Incredible how Trump has managed to fuck up his campaign with the two worst picks possible to man. JD Vance and Elon Musk lol

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      Right wingers like to sneer at “black” names and then the most mayo of mayos name their kids shit like “Tau Techno Mechanicus.” so-true