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Elon Musk is not <\/a>spending $45 million a month to elect former President Donald Trump, though he has created a new super political action committee (PAC) to fund the Republican candidate, the billionaire told<\/a> conservative commentator Jordan Peterson during an interview Monday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the interview, which was hosted on Musk\u2019s platform, X<\/a>, Peterson asked Musk if he had \u201cshocked\u201d himself by donating a substantial amount of money to Trump\u2019s campaign. Musk \u2013 who has previously criticized Trump, calling him a \u201cbull<\/a> in a china shop\u201d \u2013 paused to correct the \u201cmedia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s been reported in the media is simply not true,\u201d Musk said. \u201cI am not donating $45 million a month to Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/em> first reported<\/a> on the claim, citing sources \u201cfamiliar with the matter.\u201d The outlet has not yet issued a retraction or follow-up article altering its reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Musk did note that he created a super PAC, called the America PAC, to help support Trump. A super PAC is a group that can raise unlimited amounts of money for a campaign\u2019s independent expenditures\u2014such as for ads, or for day-to-day operations\u2014 but doesn\u2019t donate directly to the campaign. They have become prominent among both Democrats and Republicans since a 2010 D.C. appeals court decision<\/a> that authorized the existence of the super PACS. For a normal PAC, donors are limited to gifts of only $5,000 a year.<\/p>\n Several tech company leaders have donated to America PAC, including Ken Howery, an early executive at Paypal along with Musk, Antonio Gracias, a private-equity leader, Sequoia Capital\u2019s Shuan Maguire, and the Winklevoss twins.\u00a0<\/p>\n The super PAC is also led in part by Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir and politically ambitious venture capitalist in Austin who is close to Musk, according<\/a> to the New York Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The Austin-based America PAC \u201cis not supposed to be a sort of hyperpartisan\u201d organization, Musk said. He said that he isn\u2019t part of MAGA\u2014or Make America Great Again, Trump\u2019s campaign slogan\u2014but rather, his principles are aligned with \u201cMAG\u201d: Make America Greater.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t prescribe to [a] cult of personality,\u201d Musk said. But, he added that Trump demonstrated \u201cgreat courage\u201d after being shot by an attempted assassin on July 13, and that strength helps intimidate America\u2019s enemies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, Musk spoke about the \u201ccore values\u201d that make America great, which he thinks the Republican party embodies more so than the Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of those values being meritocracy, as much meritocracy as possible, so you get ahead as a function of your skill, and nothing else,\u201d Musk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also added that one of the principles the PAC aligned with was \u201cfreedom,\u201d particularly freedom from \u201cas much government intervention as possible.\u201d The hand of government gets heavier every year, and if we don\u2019t roll back some restrictions and regulations, eventually, \u201ceverything will be illegal,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n When Peterson pressed Musk for why he was switching to Trump, after long voting Democratic, Musk said that Democrats had become the party of censorship.\n
\u00a0He also criticized a lawsuit that the Justice Department\u2014under President Joe Biden\u2019s administration\u2014 launched against his company SpaceX<\/a>, last year, alleging<\/a> that Musk discouraged refugees and asylum seekers from applying to work at the aerospace company. A court order later blocked the U.S. from pursuing the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Newsletter:<\/strong> The Fortune Next to Lead newsletter is a must-read for the next generation of C-suite leaders. Every Monday, the newsletter provides the strategies, resources, and expert insight needed to claim the most coveted positions in business. Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/div>\n