Musk gives away $1 million at McKees Rocks pro-Trump rally, raising legal questions
By Adam Babetski / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Elon Musk rallied Allegheny County residents to vote for Donald Trump and answered dozens of wide-ranging questions about his political beliefs during a town hall event in McKees Rocks on Sunday.
The event, organized by Mr. Musk’s recently established America PAC, took place in the Roxian Theater. It was the latest stop of Mr. Musk’s statewide tour to stump for Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, ahead of the 2024 election.
Mr. Musk, SpaceX founder, Tesla CEO, and X owner, has recently promised to award one registered voter in a swing state per day a check of $1 million if they signed a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution, which he has claimed Democrats are trying to destroy in an act of “open sedition.”
Sunday’s giveaway winner, Kristine Fishell, embraced Mr. Musk on stage and thanked him for using his wealth to “save speech.”
Experts have raised concerns that Mr. Musk’s giveaway is a violation of Federal Election Commission (FEC) laws, as well as his stipulation that rallygoers can only attend if they sign his petition.
It was a hectic scene Sunday as Mr. Musk’s and Trump’s worlds collided.
Outside, hundreds of cars — many covered in pro-Trump messages — scrambled to find parking along McKees Rocks’ narrow streets as bewildered locals asked passersby what the commotion was about.
Inside, supporters wearing SpaceX T-shirts sat down in folding chairs with the Steelers’ Terrible Towels draped over them. Mr. Musk has previously said that he is a fan of both the Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The venue quickly reached its capacity of 1,200 and became standing room only. More would-be attendees were outside to watch a livestream of the event that Mr. Musk’s team set up on the fly.
An hour after he was scheduled to speak, Mr. Musk appeared on stage waving his own Terrible Towel high above his head and leaping into the air, much in the same way as he did when he spoke at Donald Trump’s Butler rally on Oct. 5.
His opening speech was reminiscent of Trump’s style: Wandering, obviously unscripted, and bolstered by shouted input from his enthusiastic audience.
He told the crowd that he hated politics and would much rather be building rockets at SpaceX, “but the stakes are so high, I’ve had no choice but to take a stand.”
“This might be the very last election that’s a real election,” he said. “If there’s any election where you should ever vote, it’s this one.”
As he stood between two digital boards that said “VOTE EARLY,” Mr. Musk argued that voting should only occur on a single day using paper ballots and that voting machines should be abolished.
“I’ve been programming computers since I was 9 years old. … I know how easy it is to get a line of software wrong or hack a computer,” he said, speculating that this year’s election and future elections would be tampered with using AI.
Mr. Musk said that he was just one of many newly minted high-profile Trump supporters, and that many of his colleagues were preparing to “come out of the closet” to back the Republican nominee.
He explained his sudden support for Trump was fueled in part by his realization that the political left is full of “intolerant” people, while right-wing voters generally regard the left as simply misguided instead of insulting them.
“They’re evil,” called out one woman.
“There’s definitely some evil stuff out there,” Mr. Musk said.
Mr. Musk spent the next two hours fielding unmoderated questions and appeals for money from a long line of attendees, many of which had little or nothing at all to do with his areas of expertise or the subject of the town hall.
“I don’t actually have the answer for everything,” he said at one point, responding to a question about gun safety in schools.
Mr. Musk humored several participants whose questions were conspiratorial in nature. When he was asked about how he would help Trump defeat an international “Global cabal dictatorship,” Mr. Musk answered vaguely about ending corruption in the government.
Mr. Musk gave more detailed responses about topics he had experience with, like increasing the country’s declining birth rate. Mr. Musk, who has fathered 12 children with three different mothers, spoke at length about the joys of having as many children as possible, no matter one’s personal or financial situation.
“Having a child will make you happier than anything else in your life, ever,” he said.
His responses about fatherhood led to his stance on abortion.
“If a baby can survive outside the womb, it cannot be aborted. At that point it is not abortion, it is murder,” he said.
Mr. Musk also spoke about his proposed government efficiency commission, which he said would lead to tax cuts and reduced government spending.
In the end, he said, his foray into politics would likely only last as long as Trump’s potential term, and he would once again focus on the “need to be a spacefaring civilization and out there among the stars.”