After being introduced by Donald Trump as the guy who “saved free speech,” Elon Musk took the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, jumping up and down to the crowd’s roaring welcome as he wore an Occupy Mars T-shirt and an all-black Make America Great Again hat.
“As you can see,” Musk adjusted his hat as he began the speech, “I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA.”
Trump’s return to the scene exactly twelve weeks after the first failed assassination attempt on his life, and one month until Election Day, “featured prayer, opera, parachute divers, and an artist who did a live painting of Corey Comperatore, the Trump supporter killed in the shocking attack of July 13,” per reporting from Axios. Pennsylvania remains one of—if not the—most crucial states for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on the road to 270.
“Now, America is the home of the brave, and there’s no truer test than courage under fire,” Musk, who officially endorsed Trump following the gunman nearly killing him, gestured to the former president.
Musk has, to date, spent considerable cash and effort in support of getting Trump into the White House, even co-founding a super political-action committee to do just that. A new investigation published this week by The Wall Street Journal found that, in the past couple of years, “The Tesla CEO quietly gave tens of millions of dollars to groups with ties to Trump aide Stephen Miller and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid.” The Journal added that these contributions “make him one of the biggest donors to conservative causes, which in combination with his large social-media following makes him one of the most influential figures in U.S. politics.”
The billionaire’s speech primarily focused on getting people to register to vote and opt for Trump—and he did that by echoing some of the same alarmist language that the former president has employed. “This is a must-win situation. Must win. So I have one ask for everyone in the audience, everyone who watches this video, everyone on livestream. There’s one request, it’s very important: Register to vote, okay, and get everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know,” Musk said, adding, “Like, text people now. NOW. And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction. Nothing is more important. Nothing is more important.”
Trump has repeatedly made the claim that if Christian Americans vote for him this time, they’ll never have to vote again.
“Christians, get out and vote, just this time,” the Republican presidential nominee told a crowd at the Turning Point Action’s Believers’ Summit in July. “You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”
Yet, as Musk spoke in Butler, he argued that electing Trump is the sole way to preserve democracy. “You must have free speech in order to have democracy, that’s why it’s the First Amendment. And the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment,” he said with a laugh. “President Trump must win to preserve the constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.”
Like many other current Trump fans, their relationship hasn’t always been so rosy. Trump has previously suggested that Musk was cozying up to the Joe Biden administration “because of all the government subsidies he gets, and all the permits he needs.” And in July of 2022, Trump posted on Truth Social about Musk asking for his favor while in office.
“When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican,” Trump began, adding, “I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it…”