Donald Trump’s Ground Game in Michigan Is Mostly Glitchy Apps and Vibes

“I think it’s what happens when you let a bunch of grifters take over,” a Trumpworld source said of Musk’s seat-of-the-pants operation, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about internal discussions on the campaign’s lack of a voter turnout strategy. “Shit is always gonna produce shit.”

Musk’s PAC has continued doing most of the heavy lifting, carrying out the outsourced ground game for Trump like Never Back Down did for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who was lambasted for it by Trump’s team. Musk has offered voters the chance to win $1 million by signing a petition-turned-sweepstakes supporting the First and Second Amendments, and his door knockers get paid $30 per hour “with bonuses for performance.” But there are serious questions within Trump’s orbit over how effective the late effort will be.

“What happens is, you skim a bunch of money off the top, and then you hire the dumbest people and pay them a little bit of money,” the Trumpworld strategist said. “There’s no way of tracking whether it’s effective or not. It’s hard to track the output, and thus the effectiveness of the output.”

Victoria LaCivita, Trump’s Michigan communications director and the daughter of Chris LaCivita, Trump’s co-campaign manager, described the campaign’s voter turnout operation as part of “the most sophisticated and modern campaign, ever. Our team is only expanding—we are adding new staff, offices, and volunteers weekly—with more enthusiasm, energy, and support from people and states that Democrats have taken for granted.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson also told WIRED they have “dozens of campaign offices all across the state, including the [Upper Peninsula], Detroit, Macomb, Oakland, Lansing, Livingston, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Burton,” along with 100 paid staff in Michigan, plus 6,000 “Trump captains,” and “countless volunteers in every corner of Michigan.”

A spokesperson for Michigan Republican senate candidate Mike Rogers’ campaign said they have 36 staffers with “several” field offices, aiming to hit “north of 70,000” doors per week.

Democrats have also claimed a robust voter turnout operation across 52 field offices and at least 375 staffers. But for Michigan Democrats hitting the pavement each weekend, they’ve been wondering when the Trump cavalry is supposedly coming.

“It’s been fascinating. It’s been weird? It’s been weird,” Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, a Harris campaign surrogate who’s been deployed to speak in front of younger voters in battleground states, tells WIRED.