For four days, billionaire Elon Musk visited Pennsylvania, investing his money and fame to help Republican Donald Trump’s campaign to retake the White House in November.

Musk received praise from conservatives at his rallies while answering questions about artificial intelligence, government regulation, sentient robots and vaccines.

He also made a series of false claims about election fraud, some echoing those made by Trump over the past four years.

CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social media platform expression and carrying weapons.

Musk, 53, has more than a passing interest in Trump’s success. If re-elected, Trump promises to appoint Musk to head a government efficiency commission, a position Musk says will help rid the country of regulations he considers bad for the economy and disincentivizing to do business.

Species

Musk shocked a crowd of about 1,500 people at a nondenominational church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital, on Saturday when he announced he was donating $1 million. The first winner was John Dreher, who rushed on stage in an iconic red MAGA cap, throwing his arms in the air.

“I’ve been following you for 10 years, I received your bio 10 years ago and I’ve been watching you ever since,” Dreher told Musk.

On Sunday, Musk presented another check for $1 million to Kristine Fishell, who appeared stunned when her name was called and she took the stage in a red Trump T-shirt.

“Thank you so much for…I mean, I really believe everything you do, I really do. You don’t need to do this, I know many of us feel the same way. »

Musk said winners are chosen at random, but must have signed his petition and be registered voters in battleground states that will decide the November election, such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

His documents have sparked legal questions.

Conspiracies

Musk has also embraced the conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and is proposing some of his own.

He revived false theories claiming that voting machines were rigging elections — a claim that has been repeatedly debunked since it was pushed by those seeking to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat.

He mentioned Dominion Voting Systems, which last year sued Fox News for defamation over false claims that the company had engaged in an election fraud conspiracy. Dominion has agreed to a historic $787 million settlement with the network.

“There’s always some sort of question, like, for example, the Dominion voting machines. It’s weird, you know, I think they’re used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County, Arizona, but not a lot of other places. »

In a statement, Dominion pointed out inaccuracies in Musk’s comments, including the fact that they do not operate in Philadelphia.

Musk also accused Democrats of funneling large numbers of migrants entering the United States illegally to battleground states.

Presenting no evidence, he claimed Harris would legalize migrants after the election if she won, giving Democrats clear majorities in those states.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Similar claims have been denied in the past.

“Publish the evidence”

For many at the events, the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump was taken as fact despite the lack of evidence.

An attendee in Harrisburg asked Musk what he was doing to prevent a recurrence. Musk responded by relying on the unfounded allegations.

“I mean, if the margin of victory is high enough, then I think it can outweigh any sort of cheating that might be taking place. So we’re going to go for a massive margin,” Musk said.

He encouraged people to use his X platform, formerly known as Twitter, to highlight possible election cheating.

“If people think there is fraud, then they should publish the images, the videos, the evidence,” he said.

Sharks and whales

Musk has millions of dollars in government contracts and his companies face extensive and sometimes costly government regulations, typically designed to protect things like consumers, drinking water and wildlife.

Musk was asked if, in such a job, he would take a flamethrower to piles of regulations and post a video of it. “I think a bonfire of absurd regulations would be epic,” Musk said.

Musk recounted how SpaceX was forced to conduct a study to determine whether its rockets would harm sharks when they landed in water.

“I tell myself it’s a big ocean, you know, there are a lot of sharks. It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely,” Musk said.

Reluctantly, they conducted this study, but were asked to do a similar study on potential threats to whales, Musk said.

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