Elon Musk makes his first appearance at a Trump rally and casts the election in dire terms; AP, October 6, 2024

MEG KINNARD, AP;  Elon Musk makes his first appearance at a Trump rally and casts the election in dire terms

"Billionaire tech executive Elon Musk cast the upcoming presidential election in dire terms during an appearance with Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential nominee the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.” 

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who also purchased X, Musk joined Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at the site where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. Musk said “this will be the last election” if Trump doesn’t win. Wearing a cap with the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Trump’s campaign, Musk appeared to acknowledge the foreboding nature of his remarks. 

“As you can see I am not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA,” he said. 

It was the first time that Musk joined one of Trump’s rallies and was evidence of their growing alliance in the final stretch of the presidential election. Musk created a super political action committee supporting the Republican nominee and it has been spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts. Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a government efficiency commission if he regains the White House."

Trump, Outrage and the Modern Era of Political Violence; The New York Times, September 16, 2024

 Peter Baker, The New York Times; Trump, Outrage and the Modern Era of Political Violence

"Mr. Trump, who as recently as last week’s debate with Ms. Harris blamed Democrats for the shooting at a rally in Butler, Pa., that struck his ear in July, attributed Sunday’s attempt to the president and vice president as well, arguing that the arrested suspect was acting in response to their political attacks.

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Mr. Trump told Fox News on Monday. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

Even as he complained that the Democrats had made him a target by calling him a threat to democracy, he repeated his own assertion that “these are people that want to destroy our country” and called them “the enemy from within” — certainly language no less provocative than that used about him.

Indeed, within hours, his campaign emailed a list of quotes from Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and other Democrats attacking Mr. Trump with phrases like “a threat to our democracy” and a “threat to this nation,” without noting that just last week during the debate the former president said “they’re the threat to democracy.”

One of Mr. Trump’s most prominent and vocal supporters went so far as to question why Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have not been targeted for murder. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Elon Musk, the billionaire social media owner, wrote online.

Mr. Musk later deleted the post and called it a joke, but the White House pushed back. “Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman. “This rhetoric is irresponsible.”"