Musk embraces “Dark MAGA” with race in a dead heat

​Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk reacts next to Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk reacts next to Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Billionaire Elon Musk joined Donald Trump on stage in Butler, PA, on Saturday — where the former president was shot in July — to deliver a grim vision of America’s choice in the coming election, which he claimed “will be the last” if Trump loses.

Musk falsely claimed Democrats would “take away your freedom of speech … your right to bear arms … your right to vote,” and nodded at his extreme and conspiratorial tone. “As you can see I am not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, used the weekend to make a micro media blitz, appearing on the extremely popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast and CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday. She’s hitting both younger and older demos with those platforms, and is scheduled to talk to Stephen Colbert, Howard Stern, and “The View” this week.

With polls showing a race too close to call, every vote in the key swing states matters. It looks like it will come down to three crucial states: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. If Trump wins any one of the three, he’s likely to win the election, while Harris will probably need to hold all three to secure victory. She’s leading but well within the margin of error, according to 538’s poll aggregator: She’s ahead 1.6 percentage points in both Wisconsin and Michigan — and just 0.6 in Pennsylvania. We’ll see if Musk’s performance makes a difference.

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