In this commentary, TJ Walker critiques Elon Musk’s $366 million spending on the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, arguing that such billionaire influence threatens democratic norms. He contextualizes the scale of Musk’s outlays, compares them to per‑capita spending, and highlights the opaque nature of dark‑money contributions. Walker then surveys campaign‑finance regulations in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and New York City, proposing reforms such as overturning Citizens United, mandating donor disclosure, and his own “Election Wellness Program” that would double any donation over $1,000 and allocate the match to the opposite party. The video also dissects a misinformation episode surrounding Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s flu, exposing how influencers and Musk amplified a debunked story. Walker condemns the Justice Department’s pre‑election dawn raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar as political intimidation and predicts further legal actions against Democrats. He contrasts Republican 365‑day messaging machines with the Democratic reliance on short‑term tactics like a six‑week podcast featuring Hillary Clinton, arguing the latter is insufficient. Throughout, Walker intersperses personal‑development promotion for his Ultimize courses, urging viewers to improve communication and habit‑building skills. The piece blends policy analysis, media criticism, and self‑help marketing, concluding with a warning that unchecked billionaire spending could reshape American governance.
Chapters
Ultimize. Elon Musk has now spent $366 million trying to keep Republicans in charge of Congress. That's more than a dollar per every person in America. Not every voter, every person— babies, tourists, a guy in Nebraska who's been in a coma since 1997— and not one of them got the dollar. Reuters reports $276 million of it came just since July. Including $158 million to the Senate Republican Super PAC. That's not a donation. That's a down payment. Now, his fans say it's his money. He earned it, and spending it is free speech. And as a personal development guy, I love that energy. I always tell people, invest in yourself. Didn't mean buy yourself a Senate. Here's the problem. Washington looks at this and shrugs. Eh. Nothing we can do. That's like NASA announcing a giant meteor is headed for Earth. We got the rockets, we got the bombs, but we're not blowing it up because it might hurt the meteor's feelings. And in this movie, the guy who owns the rockets is the meteor. Some perspective. Elon spent about $290 million getting Trump elected in 2024. So the midterms are costing him more than the president did. He paid more for the floor mats than the car, which, if you've ever driven a Cybertruck, is actually a smart investment. And that's just the money we can see. The New York Times reports he's also made 7-figure donations through groups that don't have to disclose their donors. So $366 million is only the part of the iceberg above the water. The rest of the iceberg is wearing a fake mustache. Helpful tip. Elon, you're 55 years old. Most men your age with a midlife crisis buy a convertible. You bought a branch of government and you still dress like a teenager waiting for his skateboard to come back from the repair shop. Think about where this goes. Today he buys ads. Tomorrow he buys all the networks, not just Twitter, all the networks. Then the newspapers, the podcasts, the apps, the weather. He already bought Twitter and renamed it after the letter on a pirate map. One morning you'll open your phone and the only headline will be, all governments have been dissolved. Elon is now the leader of Earth. Also, your car needs a software update. And how would you even check? Call someone? He owns the satellites. Other democracies figured this out a long time ago. United Kingdom bans paid political ads on TV and radio. You cannot buy a 30-second spot. Parties get free broadcast time instead. Britain still has a king, and somehow its elections are less for sale than ours. Canada bans corporations and unions from donating to parties and caps what one person can give at under $2,000 a year. Under $2,000. Elon loses that in the couch cushions of his jet. France caps donations at a few thousand euros and bans paid political TV ads, too. The French will shut down a country over the retirement age, but they won't let a billionaire buy a parliament. Germany gives parties public money based on how many votes they win, so politicians spend their time chasing voters instead of yachts and donors. And we could do it here. New York City matches small donations from residents 8 to 1 with public money. So a $10 donor actually matters. We could pass a constitutional amendment to undo Citizens United. We could force dark money groups to reveal their donors before the election instead of after. Right now, that's like getting the nutrition label after you've eaten the cake. Or we could try my plan, the TJ Walker Election Wellness Program. Any political donation over $1,000 gets doubled, and the double goes to the other party. You want to give Republicans $1 billion? Wonderful. You just gave Democrats $2 billion. Elon would soon discover minimalism overnight. He'd be begging me for another decluttering course, and I'd make one because I make a course about everything. Module 1, put down the Senate. Speaking of Elon, when he's not buying elections, he's reposting nonsense about them, which brings us to the dumbest detective story of the year. James Talarico, the Democrat running for Senate in Texas, missed about 9 days of campaigning with the flu. MAGA influencers heard that and said, nope. Never accept a simple factual explanation. Mental hospital. That was their solution. In Ohio, influencer Nick Sorder posted that an Ohio mental hospital confirms Talarico was discharged. His proof was a phone call where someone claimed to be Talarico's cousin, and the employee repeatedly said she couldn't find him or anyone with that name. That's not a confirmation. That's a receptionist being polite to a weirdo. Then the hospital posted that Talarico has never received treatment there. Talarico says he's never even been to Ohio. Now, to be fair, when a candidate disappears for 9 days, voters are allowed to wonder. I actually teach a technique for wandering. It's called asking. Helpful tip, Nick, before you announce your scoop, try a phone call where the answer is yes. These guys spent a weekend trying to prove a Democrat was unwell, and all they proved is that they think hospitals hand out patient files to anyone who says cousin. That's not journalism. That's a prank call with a ring light. And one of the big names who engaged with it? Elon Musk. $366 million on the midterms, and he can't afford one fact-checker. Did that stop once the hospital said no? Of course not. Megyn Kelly kept pushing the theory on Monday after it was debunked. Trump told supporters, I don't think it was the flu. This from a man who once told us windmills cause cancer. When Donald Trump doubts your medical history, you can frame that and hang it on the wall. Talarico has type 1 diabetes, which can make the flu hit harder, and he appeared on a virtual event September 30th saying he was sick. So the real story is a diabetic guy got the flu. Oh, stop the presses! And his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, helped plant the doubt. Ken Paxton was impeached by a Republican Texas House in 2023 and later acquitted. And now he's worried about someone else's fitness for office. Hmm. That's a raccoon filing a complaint about the trash. Here's why they're doing it. Republicans don't want to debate Talarico on the issues because then they'd have to talk about tax. Talarico didn't start any war in the Middle East. He doesn't set the price of gas. He isn't jacking up your interest rate or your groceries. He's not trying to cut services for middle-class families. Meanwhile, the Republican platform is tax cuts for rich people, fewer rules protecting consumers, and sweetheart deals for big tech. That's not a platform. That's a wish list a billionaire's accountant wrote on a cocktail napkin. When your product is that unpopular, you don't sell the product. You spread rumors about the competition. I know this from the online course business. When a course is bad, you don't fix the course. You just tell everyone the other guy's course is in a hospital in Ohio. Would you like to be the sort of successful person who is dominating news, at least in your industry? Well, if so, it's time to up your skills. At ultimize.com, I've created online courses to help you do that. Now, here's the thing. No obligation. You can get a free course on communication skills, a free course on how to build better habits. All you have to do is go to ultimize.com. That's ultimize.com. No obligation. Go there now. Rumors are one way to handle a Democrat. This week, the Trump administration tried another. Federal agents searched Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home in Washington before dawn on Monday, 3 weeks before the midterms. Cute. The Justice Department says agents executed a court-authorized warrant in a criminal investigation. Fox News, citing unnamed sources, says it's about immigration paperwork her late father filed when she was a child. A child. At this rate, they'll raid my house over a library book from 3rd grade. Omar hasn't been charged, and she calls it political intimidation. Now, supporters will say nobody's above the law. I agree. I'm a checklist guy, but the Justice Department has a longstanding norm against overt steps targeting candidates this close to an election. Apparently, that was the one box they skipped. Trump says he wasn't involved. He also says they're looking at her very carefully. That's not a denial. That's a preview. My theory? This was an audition. Someone at the top of Justice trying out for the role of Trump's favorite henchman. And here's my prediction. Don't be shocked if a week before Election Day, Democrats leading in swing districts start getting arrested. Democrats up 8 points think they're winning the democracy game. Trump is playing the dictator game, emphasis on the first syllable. I've been saying this was coming. Trump also called Omar a terrible person. Coming from Trump, that's basically the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And to my Democratic friends refreshing poll averages like it's a stock ticker, I say this with love. A poll lead doesn't help if the other team owns the referee, the stadium, and a guy with the handcuffs. So who are Democrats sending into the information war? Hillary Clinton just launched a midterm podcast with Kara Swisher called High Stakes. It runs through mid-November. So it's a podcast with an expiration date, like yogurt. And I'm about to say something that'll get me banned from every podcasting circle in America. This is— wow, talk about politically incorrect what I'm about to say, but I'm going to just spit it out to you. I like Hillary Clinton. Now, I've never met her, but friends of mine who worked with her all say the same thing. She's the most charming person they've ever met. They tell me she knows the birthdays of every staffer's boyfriends. I don't know my birthday without a Facebook notification, and I'm convinced the country would be better off if she'd won in 2016 and been reelected. If you can't handle that, Story, the channel for you. That would have solved a couple of problems. Now, I get the logic of a podcast. Big name, big audience, big stakes. But you can't parachute in a few weeks before an election. Republicans understand this. They shape minds 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Democrats still think it's 1996. Buy ads in October, book a famous guest. MAGA doesn't run a campaign. It runs a subscription. Hillary, I love you, but a 6-week podcast isn't a media strategy. It's a pop-up store, and MAGA owns the mall. Here's what conservatives understand that liberals don't. We no longer live in a world of true independence and 2 sane parties struggling over the same set of facts. That world is gone, like Blockbuster and shame. Today's voters' hearts and minds are shaped. Twisted and pitched around the clock. Republicans get every supporter repeating the same talking points on every platform every day for life. Democrats send a fundraising email with 4 exclamation points on the subject line. DJ, we're begging! Helpful tip, Democrats, from a man who sold online courses for years. Nobody buys from the launch email. They buy after you've been in their inbox for 3 years consistently, relentlessly, like a dentist reminder. So let's review. Republicans have a 365-day message machine, a billionaire spending a dollar on every human in America, and a meteor that owns its own rockets. And the Democrats' plan is a 6-week podcast. That's bringing a microphone to a meteor fight. I'm TJ Walker. See you tomorrow.
