Elon Musk Spoke at a Trump Rally, Referenced ‘Dark MAGA,’ and Urged Supporters to Vote | WIREDSkip to main contentOpen Navigation MenuMenuElon Musk Spoke at a Trump Rally, Referenced ‘Dark MAGA,’ and Urged Supporters to VoteSecurityPoliticsGearThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureIdeasMerchMoreChevronSearchSearchSecurityPoliticsGearThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureIdeasMerchPodcastsVideoNewslettersMagazineTravelSteven Levy's Plaintext ColumnWIRED Classics from the ArchiveEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingCouponsVittoria Elliott Tess OwenPoliticsOct 5, 2024 7:41 PMElon Musk Spoke at a Trump Rally, Referenced ‘Dark MAGA,’ and Urged Supporters to Vote“Get everyone you know, and everyone you don't know, drag them to register to vote,” said Elon Musk at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”Photograph: JIM WATSON/Getty ImagesSave this storySaveSave this storySaveIn Butler, Pennsylvania, a billboard read “In Musk We Trust.” A Tesla Cybertruck parked on the side of the road sported a TRUMP 2024 flag.With a month left in the presidential campaign, former president Donald Trump returned to Butler for a rally less than three months after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life that resulted in the death of one rally attendee. This time, Trump was joined by X owner Elon Musk and vice presidential candidate JD Vance.“Welcome Back to Butler, Mr. President,” read a message in Trump’s walk-on video.When Trump started speaking, the same chart about illegal immigration he was referring to in the moments before the attempted assassination appeared on screen. “And as I was saying,” Trump said. He’d timed this moment so that it took place at precisely 6:11 pm, which was when he was shot in the ear on July 13. He also held a “moment of silence” honoring those who were injured or killed during the assassination attempt in July. Opera singer Christopher Macchio sang Ave Maria, and people in the crowd removed their hats, wiped their eyes, and some even took a knee as Trump looked on solemnly.“Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows? Maybe even try to kill me,” said Trump, floating the conspiracy theory that the attempted assassination was orchestrated by his political opponents. “Twelve weeks ago we all took a bullet for America.”Trump later invited Musk on stage. The X owner walked on wearing a black blazer over a shirt saying “Occupy Mars” and a black MAGA hat. “As you can see, I’m not just MAGA,” said Musk. “I’m dark MAGA.” Dark MAGA is a memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency inspired by online trends. The valuation of Dark MAGA soared right around the time that Musk spoke.Musk repeatedly implored audience members and viewers to register to vote. “This election is the most important election of our lifetime,” said Musk. “This is no ordinary election.”He wrapped up his brief speech with an ominous message: “Get everyone you know, and everyone you don't know, drag them to register to vote,” he said. “If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”Musk’s appearance at Saturday’s rally marked a major benchmark in his political evolution. Following the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Musk posted on X that he had decided to “fully endorse” the former president and shortly after that announced the creation of a political action committee  to support Trump’s campaign. Musk initially said he would donate $45 million per month to the PAC, though he has since changed his tune. Musk also hosted Trump for a glitchy live conversation on X Spaces in August.Musk was previously an Obama, Clinton, and Biden voter who donated to politicians on both sides of the aisle but touted himself as someone who generally tried to stay out of politics. At a 2015 Vanity Fair event, Musk said he hoped Trump wouldn’t clinch the Republican nomination for president because “that wouldn’t be good” and “would be a bit embarrassing.” He also told CNBC that he didn’t believe Trump had the “sort of character that reflects well on the United States” while voicing support for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s policy platform. In 2017, Musk donated large sums to Republicans, signaling a possible rightward shift in his political outlook. And in 2020, he bamboozled many of his fans with a cryptic Twitter post: “Take the Red Pill.”Musk is one of several right-wing tech billionaires who have thrown their support behind Trump. Billionaire Palantir founder Peter Thiel is a longtime Trump supporter and also helped fund Vance’s 2022 bid for his Senate seat. Before entering politics, Thiel was one of several Silicon Valley funders who backed Vance’s Ohio-based venture fund, Narya Capital. Vance and Thiel are also investors in the right-wing video-sharing platform Rumble.When Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” took over Twitter in 2022, he almost immediately fired the vast majority of the company’s trust and safety employees, the people who keep hate speech and mis- and disinformation off the platform. The following year, Musk slashed what remained of Twitter’s election integrity team, posting, “Oh you mean the “Election Integrity” Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”Hate speech on X increased under Musk, and last year European Commission vice president Vera Jourova said that of all the companies under EU scrutiny, X was “the platform with the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.” Musk also reinstated the accounts of people who had been banned from the platform, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.After Musk finished speaking, and Trump thanked him, rally attendees chanted his name.Moments later, Musk signed back on to X.He immediately began sharing election conspiracies about election ballots sent to vacant addresses, before writing, “Make sure everyone you know & everyone you meet has registered to vote,” he wrote. “The fate of our civilization is at stake.”You Might Also Like …In your inbox: Get Plaintext—Steven Levy's long view on techMusk takeover: The young, inexperienced engineersBig Story: A crypto crimefighter’s descent into Nigerian prisonThe wild story behind Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime showUncanny Valley: An insider look at the influence of Silicon ValleyVittoria Elliott is a reporter for WIRED, covering platforms and power. She was previously a reporter at Rest of World, where she covered disinformation and labor in markets outside the US and Western Europe. She has worked with The New Humanitarian, Al Jazeera, and ProPublica. She is a graduate of ... 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