Elon Musk said the reason he was in Butler on Saturday to speak at former President Donald Trump’s rally was because of the critical nature of this year’s presidential election.
The traditionally media-shy Musk, wearing an “Occupy Mars” shirt underneath a black sport coat and “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, was all smiles as he and Trump bantered back and forth during an interview with columnist Salena Zito.
“I think President Trump represents the actual path to a democratic future, ironically, because they say he’s a threat to democracy. But, in fact, the ones saying he’s a threat to democracy are the ones who are a threat to democracy in reality,” Musk said.
Musk famously endorsed Trump in a post on X within minutes after a gunman tried to kill the former president here in July.
Musk who was a robust supporter of free speech even before he purchased X said, “Who are the ones that are trying to silence free speech? That’s the Democrats. They’re the ones trying to silence free speech. You know who the bad guys are, the ones who want to stop you from speaking, those are the bad guys. It’s a no-brainer,” he said.
Trump leans over and says, “Salena, he’s worth $300 billion. Salena, $300 billion. I worked my ass off, and I’m like a fraction of that,” he jokes.
Earlier in the day, a woman I interviewed said that to her, Musk is the Ben Franklin of our era, an inventor, a proponent of free speech, and a disrupter. She said she really liked that he both “made things” and explored the newest frontier through space, “That is part of the American ethos, hard work, innovations but also helping people out in the way he has done with Starlink in North Carolina,” she said.
“I try to be as helpful as possible,” he said and smiled at that perspective. “Well, if it wasn’t for President Trump this would be hopeless,” he said.