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In the Days before the election, the flood of lies, half-truths, stupid memes, inflammatory political assertions and private obsessions emanating from Elon Musk’s Twitter account has become increasingly pressurized, the man the world’s richest posting messages in a frenzied effort to elect. Donald Trump.

Musk returned to a set of ideas that have preoccupied him for much of the year: the threat of voter fraud, the need for voter ID laws, and his lingering fear that “non-citizens” vote one way or another. The timing of sparking outrage over alleged illegal election activity might strike some observers as ironic, given that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office just prosecuted Musk for carrying out his own “illegal scheme” to attract voters. conservative-leaning voters with the prospect of making money. .

The lawsuit follows Musk’s unveiling of two election-related cash gifts, both through America PAC, the super PAC he recently created to support Trump. First he promised pay $100 to registered voters in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin who sign a petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms . Second, he committed to selecting a registered voter who signs the petition each day to receive 1 million dollars.

Although exchanging money for votes is illegal, it’s safe to say that Musk and his lawyers intended to design a system that circumvents these restrictions. But on Monday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a civil suit against Musk calling the giveaway an “illegal lottery.” Musk and America PAC have not publicly responded to the lawsuit and awarded another $1 million winner in North Carolina on Monday.

At the same time that Musk’s own actions to influence the election are facing legal scrutiny, he has tweeted intensely about alleged illegal election fraud. Musk published this voter card on X several times throughout the month of October “should be mandatory nationally” and claiming that “almost every country on the planet” requires it. On Wednesday, for example, he proclaimed that new voter ID requirements “should be implemented.” (Thirty-six states already have some form of voter ID law on the books. But these laws have been found to disproportionately disenfranchise elderly, poor and non-white votersand be an ineffective way to reduce fraud. Additionally, concerns about voter fraud can lead to suppression and disenfranchisement of qualified voters.)

Wednesday, Musk also tweeted in support of Virginia which obtained a decision from the Supreme Court allowing it to remove presumed non-citizen voters from the ballot boxes, calling him “crazy” that the “Democratic Party” – which he cited with alarmist and dismissive quotes – was “taking legal action to allow non-citizens to vote.” In fact, legal opposition to this decision came from Justice Department lawyers and civil rights groupswho argued that eligible voters were at risk of being removed from the rolls in error.

As Musk continues to make unfounded claims of election fraud, “Community for Election Integrity” a crowd-generated feed sharing generally unverified allegations, reports, and complaints regarding alleged election malfeasance. Overall, Musk seems determined to use his megaphone to portray the United States as rife with a certain type of fraud committed by a certain type of illegal, non-citizen voters. The irony of Musk’s obsession with this question is rich, given that he worked illegally in the United States by launching his first business. While Musk has since claimed he had a student visa allowing him to workin a joint interview in 2013, his brother Kimbal described them both as “illegal immigrants.”