Elon Musk, the CEO of X and Tesla, spoke throughout Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, and made the openly false declare that Democrats have been going to get rid of elections within the US.
Trump — returning to the positioning the place he was practically assassinated in July — launched Musk as the person who “saved free speech“ and as a “rocket builder,” claiming his firm Area X was the one purpose that American astronauts can return to house.
The world’s wealthiest man took the stage in a black “Make America Nice Once more” hat and instructed the group he was “darkish MAGA” — seemingly referencing the perimeter far-right meme — earlier than taking a swipe at President Joe Biden.
He mentioned the president is a person who “couldn’t climb a flight of stairs” earlier than evaluating him to Trump, who he praised for leaping again to his ft after a bullet fired by a gunman armed with an AR-15 grazed his ear on the identical stage on July 13.
“Struggle, struggle, struggle,” mentioned Musk, invoking Trump’s phrases within the moments after that capturing.
Musk then falsely claimed that Democrats have been making an attempt to strip away People’ rights to free spech, to bear arms, and to vote.
“I feel this election is an important election of our lifetime. That is no strange election,” he mentioned. “President Trump should win to protect the Structure. He should win to protect democracy in America. It is a should win state of affairs, should win.”
The Tesla CEO then launched right into a rambling enchantment to People, asking them to register to vote, and made the openly baseless declare that Democrats have been going to get rid of elections in America.
“Like, textual content individuals [to register to vote] now. Now. After which ensure that they really do vote,” he mentioned.
“In the event that they don’t, this would be the final election,” he added. “That’s my prediction.”
Musk doesn’t have a background in politics.
Shortly after making that declare, Trump admitted that he had no thought what Musk’s satellite tv for pc web service, Starlink, was.
Trump mentioned he “referred to as up Elon” to ask him to make use of Starlink to help People affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, the place web and communication providers suffered extreme disruption.
“Elon, might you do one thing about Starlink, regardless of the hell that’s, Elon?” Trump mentioned.
Musk’s onerous right-wing flip wasn’t a shock for many of his naysayers.
Critics of Musk had suspected that his views have been aligned with right-wing, cultural battle politics for years. He typically complained concerning the “woke thoughts virus” and the “matrix” — a time period used primarily by right-wing figures trying to clarify away social backlash to their actions and ideologies — in his X posts.
Musk made his political leanings clear throughout this election cycle when he endorsed Trump for president on the identical day the previous president was practically killed in Butler, and dedicated to offer $45 million every month to the previous president’s marketing campaign, although he later walked again his supply.
However Muek has been a significant donor in Republican circles for years. In line with The Wall Avenue Journal, Musk has reportedly funneled roughly $60 million to teams affiliated with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Two individuals accustomed to Musk’s donations instructed Reuters in October that he started contributing to Constructing America’s Future in 2022.
The admiration seems to be mutual between the lads; Trump mentioned he would appoint Musk to a job drive with the mission of constructing “drastic” cuts to authorities spending.
“I can’t wait. There may be lots of waste and pointless regulation in authorities that should go,” Musk wrote on X. “This is able to unlock super prosperity for America.”
Along with his alleged donations and attainable future place in a Trump job drive, Musk has additionally given Trump and his allies an enormous platform by means of X, previously Twitter, which Musk purchased for $44 billion in 2022.
Musk has reshaped the platform by slashing makes an attempt to cease disinformation and conspiracy theories and welcoming the return of beforehand banned customers.
Shortly after Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox Information, Musk struck up an settlement with the previous Fox host to guide a present on his platform. Then, shortly after the assassination try on Trump, Musk hosted a glitchy interview with the previous president on X, throughout which the lads shared their mutual disdain for labor unions.