Elon Musk is becoming another billionaire lapdog for Donald Trump

We've all seen cringe-worthy moments as the desperate sycophants in 's orbit fall over themselves for his affection.

Who could forget lawyer Rudy Giuliani's infamous press conference outside Four Seasons Total Landscaping in 2020, when he mistakenly booked a garden centre instead of a luxury hotel? Or media titan having to fork out £600 million when his flunkies defamed a voting machine company? But just when you think it can't get worse, along comes .

The tech bro billionaire and appeared at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, like a toddler on a sugar rush. If Trump loves anything more than himself, it's watching wealthy people grovel for his approval and the world's richest man appeared happy to oblige.

Seeing the latest Trump toadie on stage jumping up and down may have been a surprise for some Americans, but X (formerly Twitter) users knew what to expect. His descent into the conspiracy theory world has been well documented. Now, he's throwing £188 billion into his quest to shape next month's election.

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Musk went on to announce a $47 (£38) referral bonus that the billionaire's political action committee (PAC) is offering to the public for each registered swing-state voter, they refer to an online petition that collects contact information of voters who are "in favour of free speech and the right to bear arms".

On the surface, it sounds like some fun pocket money for locals. Musk claims it's all in the name of free speech and gun rights, but critics claim it is really about harvesting personal voter data. Think of it as one of the most sophisticated data-mining operations ever disguised as democracy-building. "Easy money," Musk bragged on X.

Easy, sure, but at what cost? Musk is banking on at least a million people handing over their personal information. The real prize? Swing state voters where Trump's Democratic rival Kamala Harris is either narrowly trailing or leading.

However, the question everyone should ask is what will Musk do with the data? Given his behaviour, it's not hard to guess - target it with a flood of conspiracy-laden misinformation. This isn't theoretical, either.

Authorities in Michigan and North Carolina are already investigating Musk's PAC. And if that wasn't enough, his desperation to put Trump back in power became clear when he confessed to journalist Tucker Carlson that if his man loses, he's "f****d". His exact words, not mine. "How long do you think my prison sentence will be?" he quipped. Yes, the man who dreams of colonising Mars is terrified of what a Harris presidency could mean for him.

Musk might fancy himself a digital-age revolutionary, but in reality, he's just Trump's latest billionaire lapdog. And if this all feels like déjà vu, you're not wrong. In Trump's world, the puppets change, but the show stays the same.

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