Look who went to Butler with Trump

Donald Trump made his triumphant return to Butler, Pennsylvania last night, the scene of his attempted assassination three months ago. But this time he brought along a special guest in the form of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Musk put on quite the show (as he always does), decked out all in black, including a custom black MAGA hat. The billionaire joked that he wasn't just MAGA... he was "dark MAGA." The crowd appeared to eat up the performance with a spoon. But Musk was running fairly far afield from his normal public relations efforts, recasting some typical Trump talking points in ways that didn't always seem to be on the mark. Still, the event went off without incident, leaving Elon Musk clearly branded as part of Trump's supporting cast. 

From the NY Post:

Elon Musk took the stage at former President Donald Trump’s triumphant rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday — three months after the first assassination attempt on his life there — where he offered his full-throated support for the Republican candidate and implored people to register to vote.

Musk, 53, joked he’s “not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA” as he took the stage to loud cheers from the 20,000-plus crowd dressed in all black — including a custom black MAGA hat.

“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” Musk stressed to the audience.

In his brief remarks, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took shots at President Biden and fellow Democrats while praising Trump, 78, from the same stage where the ex-president took a bullet to the ear when would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire on July 13.

As noted above, there were no security incidents recorded and that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. This was probably one of the most heavily guarded campaign events in recent memory. After all, if another shooter had somehow made their way into the rally and positioned themself in a place where they could take another crack at Trump, that would probably spell the end of the Secret Service as we know it. Also, Musk probably brought along his own security team to augment the official details. There was bulletproof glass up all around the stage this time.

Muslk's pitch in support of Trump seemed a bit awkward, however. He did little more than echo the rallying cries heard from other Trump supporters around the country. His talk of the importance of Trump winning to save the Constitution and, indeed, democracy itself came off as a bit hyperbolic at best. Those calls seem even less effective because Harris and Biden are echoing the exact same talking points at their rallies.

You would think that few would be better positioned to talk about the key policy differences between the Trump and Biden administrations than Elon Musk, himself a job creator and a driver of new technologies. But that seems to happen whenever Musk steps outside of his professional comfort zones. As long as he sticks with electric vehicles and space travel, he generally flies right over the target. But when he veers off into other avenues, the results are not always quite as compelling. Take, for example, when Musk bought Twitter. He went in with the best of intentions, seeking to restore free speech in the face of government efforts to stifle information. But his "reimagined" version of Twitter ("X") has been disappointing more often than not.

Still, I'm sure Donald Trump will take whatever support he can garner wherever he finds it and Musk is no exception. Which portion of the electorate Elon will have the most pull with remains to be seen.