Billionaire Elon Musk, who is the US’s richest person, jumps around on stage in support of Donald Trump at one of his election campaign rallies.
Tech executive Elon Musk cast the upcoming presidential election in dire terms during a Saturday appearance with Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential nominee the only candidate โto preserve democracy in America.โ
The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who also purchased X, Musk joined Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. He warned โthis will be the last electionโ if Trump doesnโt win and, clad in a black-on-black cap bearing the โMake America Great Againโ slogan of Trumpโs campaign, appeared to acknowledge the foreboding nature of his remarks.
The appearance marked the first time Musk joined one of Trumpโs trademark rallies and represented the growing alliance between the two men in the final stretch of a competitive presidential election. Musk created a super PAC supporting the Republican nominee that has been spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts in the final months of the campaign. Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a government efficiency commission if he regains the White House.
Trump joined Musk in August for a rare public conversation on X, an overwhelmingly friendly chat that spanned more than two hours. In it, the former president largely focused on the July assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.
Before a massive crowd on Saturday, Musk sought to portray Trump as a champion of free speech, arguing that Democrats want โto 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.โ Musk went on to criticise a California effort to ban voter ID requirements.
Saturdayโs rally took place at the same property where a gunmanโs bullets grazed Trumpโs right ear and killed his supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.