Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a memorable appearance at former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday – a rare appearance for the tech entrepreneur.
Wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat and a T-shirt reading “Occupy Mars,” Musk appeared on stage shortly after Trump made his own remarks. The rally was held at the same site where Trump was shot by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks on July 13.
Although Musk has become a vocal Trump supporter, the speech marked the first time that the tech entrepreneur stumped at a major presidential rally. Musk confirmed that he would be at the rally on social media this week.
“I want to say what an honor it is to be here and, you know, the true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire, right?” Musk said at the beginning of his remarks. “And we had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist pumping after getting shot.”
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Musk, considered one of the most influential people in the world, also encouraged the audience to “vote, vote, vote.”
“Just be a pest to everyone,” he said to the audience. “You know, people on the street everywhere: Vote, vote, vote!”
“Fight, fight, fight, vote, vote, vote,” Musk added. At one point, the X owner jumped excitedly.
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Trump’s speech, which he opened with a roaring start by thanking the people of Pennsylvania and making a light joke about the attempt on his life in July with the line “And as I was saying…”, was largely positive and uplifting, a departure from his normally acrid criticisms of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. During the speech, the Republican candidate did make pointed remarks about his opponents who “maybe even tried to kill me.”
“Above all, you deserve leadership in Washington that does not answer to the lobbyists, to the bureaucrats, or to the corrupt special interests, but answers only to you, the hardworking citizens of America, of which there are a lot of them,” Trump described.
“We have a lot of them. We have a lot of them over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me, impeached me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot, and who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” the candidate continued. “But I’ve never stopped fighting for you. And I never will.”
The Republican candidate then turned his attention to the immigration chart he had put up – the same one that was displayed when he was shot on July 13.
“I love that chart,” Trump said. “I love that graph. Isn’t it a beautiful thing?”
“But also beautiful because look at the number, that’s the day I left office,” he continued. “It was the lowest Border Patrol [apprehensions]…Today, it’s out of control.”
Trump also held a moment for Corey Comperatore at 6:11 p.m., the exact time that Crooks began firing at the former president on July 13. Comperatore, a rally attendee and firefighter, was fatally wounded.
Speaking at the beginning of his speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump acknowledged Comperatore’s death and thanked his relatives for attending.
“It is 6:11, 12 weeks to the minute, that the shooting began,” Trump said. “I would like to ask everyone to join me in a moment of silence.”
An opera singer sang “Ave Maria” as Trump and the rally attendees paid their respects.
