MSNBC’s Chris Hayes took a look at Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump on Friday. And in addition to noting how Musk has become a “raving reactionary” who is “reposting racist memes,” Hayes pointed out how “unbearably awkward” the Tesla CEO is with extremely dry sarcasm calling him “a supernova of charisma.”
Oh, and Hayes also alluded to something other people have been pointing out: That Musk’s recent lies about Dominion Voting Systems are almost identical to those that ultimately forced Fox News to pay out almost a billion dollars to settle a defamation suit.
The segment began with Hayes showing viewers two recent micro-targeted political ads a super PAC funded by Musk has been pushing to Arab American voters in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania. The ads give wildly contradictory depictions of Harris: The ad targeting Arabs drips with antisemitic tropes and claims Kamala is essentially a pro-Israel puppet of her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff. Meanwhile the ad targeting Jews claims Harris is a dedicated supporter of Hamas, essentially. Read more here.
“Wait. We were just told Kamala Harris stands with Israel, that she’s super pro-Israel. She’s part of a pro-Israel power couple. Now we’re being told she stands with Palestine against Israel? You see the issue here, right? Those two sets of ads can’t both be true. They’re diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive, but they’re both made by the same pro Trump political action committee to micro target and manipulate vastly different groups of voters. It is the grossest, most cynical ploy I’ve seen in an election cycle that’s rotten with cynical ploys,” Hayes commented.
He then noted Musk’s $75 million contribution to the PAC that produced them, and argued the SpaceX CEO “is unique and uniquely dangerous because, remember, he bought the website formerly known as Twitter. He needed an absolute vector of disinformation and neo-Nazi bigotry, which he sometimes personally reposts or interacts with, all in the name, ostensibly, of free speech.”
“But of course, this free speech warrior is now banning reporters and blocking links to news that Trump campaign doesn’t like,” Hayes continued. “And now the tech Tycoon is offering $100 to any registered voter in Pennsylvania who signs on to his petition in support of the first and second amendments. Critics say must scheme doesn’t quite break the many laws of it by bribing voters, but it sure does bend them pretty hard.”
Then Hayes noted how on Thursday, Musk have a speech in Pennsylvania where he “offered up a heaping helping of election denial” that included repeating the aforementioned false claims about Dominion.
“It’s just flatly untrue, as the company pointed out in a statement yesterday, and as we all learned last year when let’s remember, Fox News had to pay Dominion $788 million to settle a defamation lawsuit after repeating Trump’s lies about the voting machine company,” Hayes reminded viewers. He then played a clip where Musk appeared to agree with lunatic conspiracy theories about the Biden administration having a “shadow government.” With Musk’s statements delivered in his usual, extremely put-on stammer.
“I will give him this: The man is a supernova of charisma,” Hayes said with heavy sarcasm. “I mean, just an incredible stage presence.”
“It’s pretty unnerving that the richest man in the world [is] just casually suggesting there’s some unseen puppet masters who control our government and hung out with Jeffrey Epstein. That’s a little loud, even for a dog whistle. This level of cynical brain rot, political programming out of what America’s confirmed top elites, a globalist himself is from another country, is pretty much unprecedented,” Hayes continued.
“I mean, sure, you had Henry Ford paling around with fascists back in the 1920s and 30s, and publishing absolute filth, antisemitic bilge, but Musk has wealth and access that Ford can only dream of,” Hayes went on. “The Richest Man the world has become a raving reactionary, and he’s partnering with Donald Trump, the guy who wants to overthrow American democracy, and Musk is doing everything in his power to get that guy elected, from bankrolling lies to reposting racist conspiracy theories, even working a stage in his own absolutely unbearably awkward way.”
Watch the whole clip, which includes an interview with New York Times reporter Teddy Schleifer, below:
