Elon Musk joined Donald Trump onstage at a rally as the Republican candidate made his return to Butler, Pennsylvania — the city where a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump, prompting Musk to quickly publicly endorse the former president. Trump introduced Musk as “one of the people who is going to help us build this incredible future” before the Tesla CEO hopped onstage wearing a black “Make America Great Again” cap. “I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA,” Musk told the crowd.
Musk provided a mid-speech interlude, with Trump taking a break to introduce the businessman at one point. Trump praised him as “a truly incredible guy,” adding “I don’t say that that often. He’s a great gentleman.”
“He saved free speech,” Trump claimed. “He created so many different great things.” He cited both Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX companies, along with the free speech reference pointing to Musk’s shifts since taking control of X and getting rid of much of the site’s content moderation.
“Well, first of all, I want to say what an honor it is to be here,” Musk began his comments to the rally’s audience. “And you know, the true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. And we had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist pumping after getting shot.” He then led the crowd in a chant of “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“Now, America is the home of the brave, and there’s no truer test than courage under fire … who do you want representing America?” Musk asked as the crowd cheered for Trump. “Yeah, absolutely. And I think this, this, this election, I think the most important election of our lifetime, this is — this is no ordinary election.”
Democrats want to “take away your freedom of speech,” the self-proclaimed champion of free speech asserted. “They want to take away your right to bear arms … they want to take away your right to vote, effectively.”
While the Harris-Walz campaign advocates for gun control, there is no indication the Democratic Party wants to completely eliminate guns. They have also expressed no interest in eliminating free speech or Americans’ right to vote. It’s worth noting that freedom of speech does not mean there is freedom from consequences of said speech.
“We’ve got 14 states now that don’t require voter ID. California, where I used to live, has just passed a law banning voter ID for voting. I still can’t believe that’s real. So how are you supposed to have a good, proper election if there’s no ID?” Musk questioned. “It’s meaningless, and free speech is the bedrock of democracy. And if people don’t know what’s going on, if they don’t know the truth, how can you make an informed vote? You must have free speech in order to have democracy. That’s why it’s the First Amendment, and the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment.”
Federal law requires newly registered voters in all states to provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security Number when they register to vote. There are 15 states in the United States who do not require registered voters to identify themselves when they show up to vote, but voters in those states were required to provide identification when they initially registered.
On Sept. 30, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that bans local governments from requiring ID to vote. The law is a response to a March 2024 ballot initiative approved by voters in Huntington Beach, where 53.4% of residents voted to require all residents who want to cast a ballot to show a valid ID.
That measure violated state law, which led California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber to sue in order to block local officials from enforcing the measure.
“The right to freely cast your vote is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy flies in the face of this principle,” Bonta said in a statement. “State election law already contains robust voter ID requirements with strong protections to prevent voter fraud, while ensuring that every eligible voter can cast their ballot without hardship. Imposing unnecessary obstacles to voter participation disproportionately burdens low-income voters, voters of color, young or elderly voters, and people with disabilities.”
You can watch Elon Musk’s speech at Donald Trump’s rally in the videos above, or watch the full Trump rally in the video below:
