Elon Musk spoke for the first time at a Donald Trump rally, telling a massive crowd in Butler, PA that the election was a “must-win situation.”
“As you can see, I am not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA,” Musk, wearing a black Make America Great Again hat, told the crowd.
The rally was Trump’s first in Butler since he survived an assassination attempt there in July. Shortly after the shooting, Musk endorsed Trump, citing his response to the attack.
In his remarks, he referred to that moment.
Musk said, “The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. And we had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist bumping after getting shot. ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ Blood coming down the face.”
He added, “America is the home of the brave, and there’s no truer test than courage under fire.”
Musk has been using his social media platform, X, to promote Trump and to warn of electing Kamala Harris, often in dire terms.
Musk also has trafficked in conspiracy theories and falsehoods. In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, he accused mainstream media outlets of “propaganda” by downplaying the shooting, reposting a roundup of initial headlines that reported on an incident at the rally but did not immediately identify the shootings as an assassination attempt. Musk failed to mention that outlets continuously updated their headlines as new information was confirmed.
At the rally, Musk said, “This is no ordinary election. The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote.”
Harris has noted that she is a gun owner and that Trump’s claim that she want to take people’s firearms away is “continuous lying.” She does support a ban on assault weapons, which she called a weapon of war.
Musk also has tried to cast himself as a champion of free speech. But he has restricted the accounts of users on X, including journalists, and he has sued entities like Media Matters for America over pieces they published about ads on Z appearing next to pro-Nazi content. Musk’s X also has sued some advertisers for declining to place spots on X after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
At the rally, Musk criticized California lawmakers for passing a law that bans local governments from imposing voter ID requirements. “I still can’t believe that’s real,” Musk said.
“You must have free speech in order to have democracy,” Musk said. “That’s why it’s the First Amendment, and the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment.”
He added, “Donald Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.”
Musk’s remarks were in contrast to an appearance by Liz Cheney at a rally with Harris earlier this week. Cheney, the conservative former congresswoman, blasted Trump for trying to overturn the election in 2020 and for inciting a mob to attack the Capitol in 2020. Nearly two years later, in a Trump Social post calling for throwing out the 2020 results, Trump called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Trump started his rally by telling the crowd, “As I was saying,” a reference to how his July event was immediately shut down. He paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, who was killed on that day, and to those who were injured. He also held a moment of silence at 6:11 p.m. ET, the exact time of the shooting.
Fox News carried the rally. CNN and MSNBC carried the early portion of the rally, then cut away and went back to Musk’s remarks.
