Musk had indicated that he planned to start his donations in July, one of the people said.
So July, August, September, and October. 4 x $45m, or $180 million (at least, though maybe he's going to donate another $45m for the week before the election - not a bad strategy if you can afford it). Presumably to flood the airwaves, Facebook, Fox News, CNN, newspapers and every other form of media with messages of Donald Trump.
Musk has styled himself as a free speech "absolutist." But when you are expressly taking all oxygen in the room so nobody else's message can be heard, doing something that only a handful of people are privileged to be able to afford to do, it is impossible to reconcile that with "free" speech. Unless your conception of "free speech" is that only those with money are entitled to it.