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Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk hosted a town hall in Pennsylvania ahead of the voter registration deadline after publicly backing former President Donald Trump.
The crowd, which was full of people wearing red Trump “MAGA” hats, cheered loudly as he walked onto the stage. During his speech, many people cheered and yelled support as Musk was also wearing a gold MAGA hat.
In a speech that lasted a little more than an hour, Musk painted a terrible picture of life in the United States if Trump doesn’t win. He said bad things about President Joe Biden’s government and how it handled the immigration crisis and the southern border. He also said that he would protect the Constitution.
Musk said that Democratic policies were to blame for the high crime rates in the country’s big cities, and he told the crowd that they would have much less power if the government passed gun control laws. He was angry that the federal government and the criminal justice system were spending more and more money.
“The situation we have here is that the Democratic Party will not put hardened criminals in prison, and so they run free and they prey upon you and your kids,” Musk said.
“The Second Amendment is there to protect the First Amendment,” Musk later added.
Musk argued that these viewpoints are just “common sense.”
WATCH:
If you’re a registered Pennsylvania voter, you & whoever referred you will now get $100 for signing our petition in support of free speech & right to bear arms.
Earn money for supporting something you already believe in!
Offer valid until midnight on Monday.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2024
Elon Musk holds a town hall in Folsom, Pennsylvania
Timestamps:
0:42 Actions speak louder than words
1:00 This election is going to decide the fate of America
2:00 Elon Musk’s Commitment to Pennsylvania and Its Pivotal Role in the Election
4:25 Deteriorating Urban Safety… pic.twitter.com/guFeeXzy6I
— Adrian Dittmann (@AdrianDittmann) October 18, 2024
“The visit was the first in a series of town halls Musk is holding across Pennsylvania through Monday. He’ll have a town hall in Montgomery County on Friday as the focus on the populous collar counties ramps up in the final weeks of the campaign,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Musk has made a huge donation to a political organization aligned with former President Donald Trump, officially making him a Republican ‘megadonor.’
Musk gave $75 million to a superPAC he set up over the past three months, according to election-related financial disclosures, Reuters reported.
America PAC, which aims to mobilize voters in closely contested states that could determine the election outcome, spent approximately $72 million during the July-September period, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
This amount surpasses that of any other pro-Trump superPAC focused on voter turnout. The Trump campaign heavily relies on outside groups for voter canvassing, meaning the superPAC founded by Musk—the world’s richest man—plays a significant role in the tightly contested election between Trump and Democrat nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Reuters noted further.
Musk, the CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla, was the only donor to the group during that period.
Although Musk has stated that he has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past, he has made a notable shift to the right in this election cycle. He endorsed Trump in July and joined him at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, the outlet noted.
On Wednesday, Musk announced in a post on X that he will be “giving a series of talks” across Pennsylvania, just under two weeks after his appearance with Trump in the state.
He mentioned that people only need to sign a petition on his America PAC website to attend his talks, scheduled from “tomorrow night through Monday.”
Last week, Reuters reported, citing a source, that Musk plans to ramp up his campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania, which is viewed as a critical state for both Trump and his Democratic opponent, Harris, in the race for the White House.
Musk’s contributions to America PAC elevate him to the ranks of Republican mega-donors, a group that also includes banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson. However, Reuters revealed earlier this month that Musk had been secretly funding a conservative political group for years, long before his public support for Trump.
America PAC aims to motivate Americans who support Trump but do not always vote to participate in this election cycle, employing a high-risk, labor-intensive strategy for the Trump campaign, noted Reuters.
The group, which began its efforts later than other PACs in the election cycle, has faced challenges with hiring and its contractors. Since July, it has terminated two major contractors hired to canvass neighborhoods.
