'Something stinks': Elon Musk, congressional Republicans target Democrats' main fundraising machine

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Published 6:00 AM EDT, Thu March 27, 2025


CNN — ActBlue, a fundraising juggernaut for liberal candidates and causes, is facing stepped-up scrutiny and criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill and allies of President Donald Trump – as the GOP flexes its new power in Washington and targets one of the key pillars of the Democratic Party’s financial infrastructure.

Three Republicans in Congress – including the chairmen of the House Oversight and Administration panels – are urging Trump’s Treasury Department to share with lawmakers reports of suspicious financial transactions related to ActBlue. Other GOP lawmakers are demanding probes by Treasury and the FBI into whether the fundraising platform has helped organizations engaged in terrorism or violated federal campaign finance laws.

And billionaire Trump donor Elon Musk – who is overseeing the administration’s controversial effort to rapidly shrink the federal government – has criticized ActBlue, seeking to tie it to protests and acts of vandalism against his electric-vehicle company Tesla. He has argued, without evidence to substantiate his claims, that some prominent Democrats – including one who died in 2019 – were funding ActBlue and the protests. “Something stinks about ActBlue,” Musk posted earlier this month on his social media platform, X.

Officials with ActBlue deny any wrongdoing. “ActBlue has always dealt with attacks and baseless claims from the Right that are designed to undermine the power of the small-dollar donors who rely on our platform,” spokesperson Megan Hughes said in a statement in CNN. “This new, coordinated attack is different only in scale, and our team remains steadfast in defending against these bad-faith attacks.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/politics/elon-musk-republicans-target-actblue/index.html

---

They want to raid it and suck the $$$ out for themselves.

[Irish_Dem]

1. Destroy the two party system in the US. Only the PutinGOP will remain.

[durablend]

2. S Q U I R R E L !!!!

"LOOK OVER THERE, THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING THINGS!!! PAY NO ATTENTION TO SIGNAL OR ANYTHING!!!!"

[Eugene]

3. criminalizing the opposition, another classic authoritarian move

Of course Musk will "find" fraud, and he will just double down on the assertion when asked for evidence.

[NCDem47]

26. Yup. Inching closer to declaring Democrats enemy of the state.

I mean, do we NEED more evidence?

[Torchlight]

4. A clear sign the GOP is up to shady financing of their own

and are using this accusation to set up a distraction when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar again next month. At this point, I can't help but presume each accusation by GOP leadership is a tacit admission of their own behavior.

[HappyH]

5. Yep, these guys are full of projection.

It would not surprise me if Elon is torching his own cars for insurance money, he knows he can't sell them.

[BattleRow]

11. Retrofit the hoods with swastikas hood ornaments.

Create a market niche....

[yellow dahlia]

27. I hadn't thought of that. Of course.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. "can't help but presume each accusation by GOP leadership is a tacit admission of their own behavior."

At least 90% of the time, every "crime" they accuse someone else of committing, THEY are the ones actually guilty of them. And this runs across the gamut of crimes - whether financial fraud, child predator and sex trafficking, mishandling of classified (or any type of government) documents, "weaponizing" LEO authority, etc.

[LiberalArkie]

16. Always has been. If the Democratic leadership would just listen the the Republicans, they would know where to attack

the creeps.

[Owens]

7. Democratic Leaders should announce an investigation into the Heritage Foundation

[yellow dahlia]

28. Great idea!

[intheflow]

8. FFS, Cnn! His rapid downsizing of the government isn't "controversial."

It's motherfucking illegal, which is why they are losing court cases left and right.

[bronxiteforever]

9. Soon our party will declared a terrorist organization

Dark times. None of this will end well.

[NotHardly]

10. I fear you are correct.

[BattleRow]

12. And we will all have to pay for the air we breathe.

[Littlered]

13. There is something fishy going on

Last edited Thu Mar 27, 2025, 07:43 PM - Edit history (2)

At act blue. Regardless of what the cons are accusing them of. There is something going on. I have zero love for that organization. One donation assures years and years of non stop spamming. I’d rather donate to a candidates campaign directly. I imagine a lot of people that can’t really afford it, end up donating to things they never really intended to.

Of course the ultimate fix is to ditch Citizens United and have federally funded elections.

https://electionlawblog.org/?p=148844

https://www.influencewatch.org/person/richard-l-hasen/

[BumRushDaShow]

14. You do realize your link is to a RW loon outlet

right?

https://adfontesmedia.com/washington-free-beacon-bias-and-reliability/

Washington Free Beacon Bias and Reliability


Bias: Strong Right
Reliability: Unreliable, Problematic

Overview

Ad Fontes Media rates The Washington Free Beacon in the Strong Right category of bias and as Unreliable, Problematic in terms of reliability. The Washington Free Beacon is an online newspaper dedicated to investigative reporting on issues such as public policy, government and media. The website states it is “dedicated to uncovering the stories that the powers that be hope will never see the light of day.” Founded in 2012, it is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

(snip)

[LudwigPastorius]

19. Yep, loony toony.

https://freebeacon.com/enemies-of-freedom/

[Littlered]

21. No, I didn't.

Does that change the facts? I actually went out of my way and avoided the right wing outlets I’m familiar with. It was hard to find that article because of all the hullabaloo over this latest bullshit. So I copied what I thought was a safe link.

Does this source meet your approval? Or do I need to keep looking? https://electionlawblog.org/?p=148844

https://www.influencewatch.org/person/richard-l-hasen/

[BumRushDaShow]

22. "Does that change the facts?"

You need to delete it. Promoting RW loonery on DU is not a good look.

I actually went out of my way and avoided the right wing outlets I’m familiar with. It was hard to find that article because of all the hullabaloo over this latest bullshit. So I copied what I thought was a safe link.

I was aware of it and got the info I posted about easily from a search of the name.

Does this source meet your approval? Or do I need to keep looking? https://electionlawblog.org/?p=148844

https://www.influencewatch.org/person/richard-l-hasen/

It's the TOS you need to keep in mind about.

Your first link doesn't touch on what the OP is describing regarding Musrat's attempts at attacking Democratic Party fund-raising entities and your second link about the author of that latest article is from yet another RW loon site - "Influence Watch" -

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/influence-watch/

Influence Watch – Bias and Credibility

RIGHT BIAS

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Right Bias sources.

Overall, we rate Influence Watch Right Biased based on the left-leaning sources they more frequently profile, as well as the use of loaded words such as “extremist” to describe liberal policy. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.

But I am not surprised in the least.

[Littlered]

23. Of course you aren't.

What part of the second link is loonery? It’s the same information presented by someone with very strong liberal credentials. If it will make you feel better. I will change the other post to the BumDaRushAproved source.

I just wanted to add. D.U. Is where I originally found out about this.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. You have already lost all credibility

The author of the piece you referenced is listed on a RW site.

Here is the TOS that you agreed to when you joined, - as as reminder https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

Terms of Service

(snip)

Don't peddle right-wing talking points, smears, or sources
Do not post right-wing talking points or smears. Do not post content sourced from right-wing publications, authors, or pundits. Exceptions are permitted if you provide a clear reason for doing so that is consistent with the values of this website.

Why we have this rule: News media and the Internet are already awash with conservative propagandists attacking our candidates and our values -- we're not interested in providing them with another outlet. We understand that many of our members might hold some conservative viewpoints on isolated issues, but nobody here should be parroting hateful garbage from the RNC, the NRA, or the Family Research Council. Forum members should expect that the only time they'll have to read a right-wing smear or an article from Breitbart is when someone is pointing and laughing at it.

There is already plenty of rightwing nuttery awash on the internet and we certainly don't need to add to that here on DU unless we are pointing and laughing at it or attacking it, but certainly NOT using it as justification for any critique of Democrats/liberals/progressives.

[Littlered]

25. What are you going on about?

I am totally confused. You seem unwilling to address the content of my post. Why is that? The link I provided isn’t some right winger. He is a well respected leftest professor. I made sure of it. It has nothing to do with the crazy accusations the cons are making. This is totally different. I’m not personally vested in the issue. I get it though. It seems once some posters reach the 100k post count they feel they can insult and bully low post count members with impunity. I guess diversity and inclusion is just a slogan. For some, it’s my way or the hi-way.

With that being said. Feel free to alert on the post and let a jury decide. Before you do. I would recommend using the search function and see for yourself where I learned of this. And maybe spend some time finding that others have the very same gripe regarding the endless spam. I have an early morning, so I’m done for today. Have a good evening. Keep up the good fight, peace.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Yeah I think you are confused

You are correct about that.

NEWSFLASH: DU is a site that supports Democrats and the big tent of the party. It doesn't take kindly to RW smears and sources.

What would be instructive for you to do, and would be more relevant to the mission of DU, is to engage in a deep dive on Muskrat's "America PAC" and the dodgy and generally phony "million dollar lotteries" and $100 giveaways that have emanated from it during impactful elections.

[Kid Berwyn]

15. Putin funds the NRA, which funds MAGA, which is NAZI.

It’d be good, right and proper to investigate that first.

[Mawspam2]

17. If they were serious about finding fraud, they would investigate WinRed.

[Exp]

18. Tell me you're a FASCIST without telling me you're a fucking Fascist. nt

[mdbl]

20. "Something stinks about ActBlue," Musk posted earlier this month

I am surprised he can smell anything over his own stench!

[stillcool]

30. that finger-pointing works both ways

[Blue Dotty]

31. Chapter Three - Beware the one-party state

On Tyranny - by Timothy Snyder
Chapter One - Do Not Obey in Advance ❌
Chapter Two - Defend Institutions ❌
Chapter Three - Beware the one-party state ⏰

I posted this under trump’s plans for the Smithsonian discussion. (Chapter Two - Defend Institutions.). I do not like where this book is heading.

However, they are fearful of the main funding source for DEMOCRACY and that means there will still be elections at this point, and that gives me Hope tonight.