In a speech to Trump-supporting voters across Pennsylvania, Elon Musk repeated a line he has used regarding the assassination of Vice President Kamala Harris: She was a “puppet” of an unnamed Washington power broker. That’s why it’s meaningless, he said.
“Nobody’s even going out of their way to kill Kamala,” Musk said Saturday night at a town hall-style event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, drawing laughs. “It’s pointless. Why? They’ll just get another doll.”
At the same meeting, Musk said he believed he too could be assassinated for supporting former President Donald J. Trump.
“Quite a few of my friends have called me and said, ‘They’re definitely going to try to kill you,'” Musk said in Lancaster, adding: chance. they may try to do so. ”
Musk made the comment while discussing the two assassination attempts on Trump this year. So far, investigators have found no evidence that the two perpetrators in these cases were related to each other or that there was a broader conspiracy. But one would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, searched online for information about both Trump and President Biden, as well as several other prominent politicians.
Nevertheless, Mr. Musk claimed the effort was evidence that shadow interests were trying to get a hold of Mr. Trump and, in turn, Mr. Musk himself.
“Significantly increasing the risk of being assassinated or getting involved in politics is not something I want to do. I don’t have a death wish,” Musk said in Pittsburgh this month. “But the stakes are so high that we feel we have no choice.” The crowd applauded.
As Mr. Musk assumes a high-profile role in the effort to elect Mr. Trump and defeat his Democratic opponent, his remarks have become increasingly ominous and at times coy and vulgar. He has made numerous public appearances on Trump’s behalf in Pennsylvania, a state considered important to both sides.
On Saturday, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, posted an ad on his social media platform X that said, “America can’t afford the C-Word in the White House right now.” In large print it said, “Kamala Harris is the C Word.” It was later revealed that the word in question was “communist” and not the vulgar word suggested in the post.
Post has been deleted. Mediaite reported the content of the ad.
Neither Mr. Musk nor America PAC responded to requests for comment from The New York Times on Monday. Harris’ campaign declined to comment, as did the Secret Service.
Jennifer Mercieca, a communications professor at Texas A&M University who has written about Trump’s speech, said Musk’s claim that he was in danger was a powerful rhetorical device that forced loyalty. He said it was.
“I’m going to tell the truth and I’m going to protect you, so you owe me your vote and your allegiance,” she said, adding that Trump’s legal troubles are a result of people trying to get him. He pointed out that similar tactics had been used, saying that this was a sign that the government had adopted similar tactics. “This is how a cult of personality is built.”
Mercieca said that mentioning the possibility of Harris’ assassination might lead some listeners to think that should be the case. “Obviously it gives people the idea that somebody should do that,” she says. “We’ve really turned around here. It’s really dark.”
Musk has spoken at five in-person events around Pennsylvania this month and appeared at a virtual town hall on Friday night. The events also included the presentation of $1 million checks to supporters who signed petitions set up by Musk’s pro-Trump PAC.
Events typically begin with a short speech from Musk, followed by questions from the audience. In his speech, Mr. Musk lambasted Mr. Trump and praised his role as head of the Office of Government Efficiency, which would oversee his companies and the agencies that would regulate them if Mr. Trump became president. win.
Musk spoke about the election in apocalyptic terms, telling the audience that if Trump loses, democracy in the United States may soon effectively end.
“If Trump doesn’t win, this will be the last election,” Musk said on Oct. 17 in the Philadelphia suburb of Folsom, Pennsylvania. Musk hinted that Democrats intend to import illegal immigrants to permanently vote out Republicans. Illegal immigrants cannot legally vote.
But amid all this talk, Musk often returns to the idea of assassination.
He first raised the possibility of an assassination attempt on Harris in September, following a second assassination attempt on Trump. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Musk wrote on X, along with a thoughtful face emoji.
Musk deleted the post after receiving backlash, but the same idea has since become a standard part of his speech in Pennsylvania.
“It’s not like somebody’s trying to kill her,” he said Oct. 19 at City Hall near Harrisburg. why is that? Because it doesn’t matter. ”
Kate Kelly contributed reporting.
