Elon Musk joined the MAGA circus in person on Saturday night, literally jumping on stage with Donald Trump during the former president’s big rally return to the same Butler, Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July. After Trump introduced Musk as a “truly incredible guy” who “saved free speech,” the tech billionaire emerged and awkwardly jumped up and down with his arms up behind Trump, who then shouted for him to “take over” the mic. Musk looked like he was trying to become a human MAGA meme.
Trump brings Elon Musk on stage, who he claims "saved free speech." Elon jumps up and down, claims he is "dark MAGA," and praises Trump. pic.twitter.com/xJTyiyziWJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 5, 2024
“As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA,” Musk told the crowd, apparently referring to his black MAGA hat. He then said it was “an honor” to be there before launching into a short speech in which he both celebrated Trump and demonized Democrats.
Musk especially praised Trump for his reaction to getting grazed by a bullet back in July, even imitated Trump by shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” for the crowd.
Otherwise, Musk mostly echoed the same hyperbolic rhetoric that has long been standard at Trump rallies regardless of who’s speaking.
Elon Musk: President Trump must win to preserve the constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. pic.twitter.com/Kdlzo3VdxL
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 5, 2024
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America, this is a must-win situation,” the X owner said. He also told the crowd that Democrats want “to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms, they want to take away your fight to vote, effectively,” and after asking rally attendees to help get out the vote, offered the apocalyptic warning that “this will be the last election” if Trump doesn’t win.
Elon Musk: And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don't, this will be the last election. That's my prediction. pic.twitter.com/dEEUhdZdwM
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 5, 2024
After the rally, Musk changed his X profile picture to one of him in his black MAGA hat:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2024
Other images from Saturday might have worked even better, if the goal was to capture the now special bond between Musk and Trump:
I’m sorry, this is the funniest single photo of the entire election cycle. pic.twitter.com/w6PuJlPPmW
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) October 6, 2024
— Olympics Jeremy (@JeremyMonjo) October 6, 2024
It wasn’t always like this. Not that long ago, Musk had seemed skeptical of Trump’s candidacy and he initially backed Trump rival Ron DeSantis in the GOP primary. But in recent months, the notoriously unfiltered Musk has gone all-in. The Tesla and SpaceX head endorsed Trump in the aftermath of the July assassination attempt, and now backs the PAC which the Trump campaign has outsourced its swing-state ground game to. Musk also interviewed Trump on X; regularly promotes pro-Trump conspiracy theories, racism, and political attacks; and he (very creepily) went after Taylor Swift after she endorsed Kamala Harris. If Trump loses next month, expect Musk to hop on Trump’s “stolen election” bandwagon, too.
This post has been updated.
