SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks throughout an America PAC city corridor, Oct. 26, in Lancaster, Pa. AFP-Yonhap
Tech mogul Elon Musk , talking at a city corridor Saturday night time in Pennsylvania to help Republican Donald Trump , performed down the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and exhorted supporters to solid votes early within the presidential swing state whereas describing mail ballots as a “recipe for fraud.”
The freewheeling session inside a ballroom at a lodge in downtown Lancaster touched on a dizzying vary of subjects, from area exploration and the Tesla cybertruck to immigration and the efficacy of psychiatric medication. The city corridor was a part of Musk’s efforts by way of his tremendous PAC to assist enhance Trump in swing states forward of the Nov. 5 presidential election towards Democrat Kamala Harris.
Musk, whom Trump has vowed to present a job in his administration if he wins subsequent month, spent practically two hours taking questions from city corridor members. Whereas most had been laudatory and coated quite a lot of subjects, one was significantly pointed: A person needed to know what Musk would say to considerations from voters that Trump’s election might result in democracy backsliding within the U.S. contemplating his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, rebel.
Whereas calling it a good query, Musk additionally stated that the Jan. 6 assault by Trump’s supporters has been known as “some type of violent rebel, which is solely not the case” — a response that drew applause from the group. Greater than 100 legislation enforcement personnel had been injured within the assault, some overwhelmed with their very own weapons , when a mob of Trump supporters who believed his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him stormed the Capitol to cease the certification of votes.
Musk additionally claimed that individuals “who say Trump is a menace to democracy are themselves a menace to democracy,” a remark that was additionally cheered by the group of a number of hundred folks packed tightly into the ballroom. Many extra watched the occasion on X, the social media platform Musk bought two years in the past.
Trump, he stated, “did really inform folks to not be violent.” Whereas Trump did inform the group on Jan. 6 to protest “peacefully and patriotically,” he additionally inspired them to “struggle like hell” to cease Democrat Joe Biden from turning into the president.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has dedicated greater than $70 million to spice up Trump within the election and, at occasions on behalf of his tremendous PAC, has inspired supporters to embrace voting early. Nonetheless, echoing a few of Trump’s misgivings in regards to the methodology, Musk raised his personal doubts in regards to the course of. He stated that, sooner or later, mail ballots shouldn’t be accepted, calling them an odd anomaly that bought popularized in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and elevating the prospect of fraud.
There are a selection of safeguards to guard mail-in ballots, with numerous poll verification protocols, together with each state requiring a voter’s signature.
The query about Jan. 6 was an outlier in the course of the back-and-forth with the group during which Musk was repeatedly praised as a visionary and solicited for recommendation and ideas about training, arm wrestling, tax loopholes and whether or not he’d purchase the Chicago White Sox. (He stated he was a tech man and needed to choose his battles.)
Musk stated he was in favor of “not heavy handed” regulation of synthetic intelligence and railed towards “woke faith” as “basically an extinctionist faith.” He stated the U.S. beginning price is a big concern.
He stated he believes Jesus was an actual one who lived about 2,000 years in the past and, when requested for the perfect recommendation he is ever obtained, replied: “I like to recommend finding out physics.”
He additionally known as a lady to the stage to present her a big $1 million test, a part of his promotion to present away $1 million a day to a voter in a swing state who has signed his tremendous PAC’s petition backing the U.S. Structure.
The giveaways are positive with Josh Fox, 32, a UPS driver from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania.
“That’s cool,” Fox stated, ready to get into the rally earlier Saturday. “It could be good to have it.”
Fox, who plans to vote for Trump, dismissed any suggestion the cash might violate federal election guidelines .
“It’s about driving in help and driving in people who find themselves in help of the Structure,” Fox stated. (AP)
