Billionaire Elon Musk promoted debunked conspiracy theories about voter fraud Thursday at the first of a series of planned campaign events across Pennsylvania aimed at drumming up support for former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
In a town hall hosted at a high school outside Philadelphia, Musk addressed the false conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems was part of a conspiracy to rig US elections in recent years.
“When you have mail-in ballots and you don’t have proof of citizenship, it’s almost impossible to prove fraud,” he said, responding to an audience member’s question about voter fraud. “Statistically, some very strange things happen that are statistically incredibly improbable. There’s always this issue of, say, Dominion voting machines. It’s strange that, I think, they were used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County [in Arizona] but not in many other places. Doesn’t that seem like a coincidence?’
“The last thing I would do is trust a computer program,” he said, promoting the idea that US elections should use only paper ballots. THE Brennan Center for Justicea progressive non-profit law and public policy institute, found that 98% of general election votes are expected to be cast on paper ballots.
Dominion did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has generally denied any allegations that it was involved in efforts to manipulate the election. Last year, this reached a $787.5 million settlement with Fox News in her defamation suit against the media outlet for such allegations.
Contrary to Musk’s claim that Dominion’s software was only used in a small number of counties, Reuters fact check found that Dominion systems were used in at least 24 states for the 2020 elections.
Musk’s appearance, which was was broadcast live from Philadelphia Fox, as well as X, comes as Musk has increased his support for Trump. Musk has almost given 75 million dollars to his pro-Trump America PAC, which he founded this year. Two weeks ago, he joined Trump on stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Musk has also turned his own X account, with more than 200 million followers, into an almost non-stop stream of Trump support, in which he has repeatedly promoted false claims about immigration and voter fraud.
Studies and research they have found that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. When voter fraud has occurred, prosecutors have successfully brought cases against perpetrators, including a highly publicized fraud scheme in North Carolina.
Musk spoke for about 10 minutes in what appeared to be unexpected remarks that ranged from concerns about censorship and government spending to the Second Amendment and safety in cities, arguing that cities have become less safe for their residents. THE the most recent data released by the FBI has suggested that crime has generally declined across the US, including major cities.
Speaking about the US-Mexico border, Musk compared it to the zombie movie “World War Z.”
Musk then took questions for about 40 minutes, at one point chatting with an audience member who was shouting about Democratic philanthropist George Soros, who has long been the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In response, Musk called Soros “evil” and said he was “tearing the fabric of society.”
In response to another question, Musk advanced an unfounded conspiracy theory that Vice President Kamala Harris is being controlled by an unknown group of people.
Musk repeatedly encouraged members of the public to get their friends and family members to register to vote in the state — where the registration deadline is Monday.
“Pennsylvania is the cornerstone of this election, and this election will decide the fate of America and, with America, the fate of Western civilization,” Musk told the crowd as he stood in front of an American flag.