周日晚上，亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克戴着一顶黑色的“让美国再次伟大”帽子，在麦迪逊广场花园的舞台上介绍这位前总统唐纳德·特朗普对着满满一群MAGA支持者。
“我不只是MAGA，我是黑暗哥特MAGA，”马斯克说，赢得了掌声。
24小时前，马斯克在宾夕法尼亚州，在他的政治行动委员会美国政治行动委员会(America PAC)组织的一个挤满了选民的市政厅对1200多名选民发表讲话，来自该州各地的粉丝都来看这位支持特朗普总统竞选的科技巨头——以及数百万美元。
马斯克在没有特朗普的情况下出现，他花了近三个小时回答支持者的问题，这些支持者向这位亿万富翁提出了各种问题，从如何抚养女儿的建议到他将如何修复美国教育系统。虽然周六的市政厅可能旨在帮助提高特朗普在该州的机会，但整晚都很清楚为什么许多与会者都出来了。
“埃隆·马斯克——我的意思是，他是我的英雄，”来自宾夕法尼亚州兰卡斯特的29岁电工奥斯汀告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我主要是来看他的。”
“国宝”
在选举日之前，马斯克已经开始了前所未有的努力，以帮助特朗普赢得选举——从他的巨额财富中投资数百万美元到美国政治行动委员会(America PAC)，该委员会在带领特朗普实地行动的同时，在关键的战场州投放广告。但这位世界上最富有的人也希望通过利用他作为影响者的权力来帮助特朗普——这一策略已经在他在该州举行的一系列市政厅会议上得到展示。
对于奥斯汀这样的马斯克死硬派来说，这可能行得通。
当被问及是否只是为了政治内容而出席时，奥斯汀说:“我可能不愿意出来参加这个活动。”。“我不认为我会在乎来参加一个活动——但有埃隆·马斯克在这里，绝对不会。”
周六市政厅的许多问题都集中在该国面临的问题上，但与会者往往将注意力转向马斯克本人，粉丝们对这位亿万富翁赞不绝口，并利用他们的时间寻求个人建议，甚至向马斯克推销商业机会。
一名来自宾夕法尼亚州西切斯特的男子问马斯克，他的Neuralink脑机接口是否可以治愈他患有脊柱裂的朋友，并帮助他重新行走。一位与会者与马斯克分享说，他已经用他的名字给他三岁的儿子命名，并要求在他长大后给他签名。另一位与会者就如何更好地激发女儿对科学和太空的兴趣向马斯克征求育儿建议。
整个晚上，支持者称赞马斯克是“国宝”、“美国爱国者”和“绝对聪明”。
当晚最有争议的时刻到来了，一名年轻的与会者问马斯克，他会对担心特朗普拒绝接受2020年选举结果的选民说些什么，以及他在1月6日袭击国会大厦事件中的作用。
“你是个傻逼，”提问时人群中有一个人喊道，人群中其他人发出嘘声。
虽然马斯克说这是一个“公平的决定”，但这位亿万富翁继续淡化国会大厦的暴力袭击，并提出了“选民违规行为”的毫无根据的说法，声称那些去国会大厦的人“有一些优点”。
马斯克表示，1月6日的袭击“绝不是暴力叛乱。”
“我不同意抗议的程度，但这绝不是暴力叛乱，”马斯克谈到这次袭击时说，司法部表示，超过140名警察遭到袭击，超过160名暴徒后来承认袭击执法人员。
“真是太巧了，”
在该州的众多市政厅中，在社交媒体平台X上拥有超过2亿粉丝的马斯克也多次推送错误信息围绕选举或以前的选举周期。
在宾夕法尼亚州福尔瑟姆的一次活动中，马斯克重复了一个被揭穿的阴谋论，即投票机操纵了2020年的选举。
“总有一种问题，比如说，自治领投票机。奇怪的是，你知道，我认为它们在费城和马里科帕县使用，但在其他很多地方没有，”马斯克告诉摇摆州的人群。"这难道不像是一个巧合吗?"
Dominion发言人在市政厅后的一份声明中反驳了马斯克的评论，称该公司不在费城运营。
“事实:Dominion不为费城郡服务。事实:Dominion的投票系统已经基于选民验证的纸质选票。事实:人工计数和审查这种纸质选票已经反复证明，自治领机器产生准确的结果。这些都不是看法的问题。这些都是可以证实的事实，”Dominion的发言人说，该公司去年达成了一项7 . 87亿美元和解金在福克斯新闻频道起诉该电视网做出类似毫无根据的指控后。
在马里科帕县的网站上，官员们还表示，2020年选举中的投票机是准确的，并写道，选举后的人工计数“发现人工计数结果和自治领制表设备之间的差异为零。”
在市政厅之外，马斯克-尽管他的美国政治行动委员会-已经为注册选民举行了一系列100万美元的赠品。在选举日之前的每一天，马斯克的团队都承诺将奖励100万美元给从一个摇摆州随机选择的注册选民，他们同意签署支持第一和第二修正案的请愿书。
彩票很快引发了争议，周一，在马斯克送出他的第八张百万美元支票后，费城地方检察官起诉马斯克和他的超级政治行动委员会。
当被要求置评时，美国政治行动委员会的一名代表向美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)指出，X上的一篇帖子宣布了周一的100万美元奖金得主，这篇帖子是在诉讼消息爆出后发表的。据《邮报》报道，周一的获胜者来自密歇根州
我认为这引起了共鸣
对于周六市政厅的许多特朗普的铁杆粉丝来说，马斯克帮助巩固了他们的支持。
来自宾夕法尼亚州兰彼得的39岁的安全总监范·摩尔告诉美国广播公司新闻，自2016年以来，他一直投票支持特朗普，但他仍然喜欢看到一个不完全与前总统保持一致的人。
“我想说，埃隆·马斯克并不是在所有问题上都与前总统特朗普100%一致，但我确实认为他们在许多关键问题上是一致的，我认为这显然引起了这里人们的共鸣，”摩尔说。
其他人希望马斯克的热情能传播到那些不支持特朗普的人。
一名与会者说，“我认为他带来了很多仍未拿定主意的人，他们可能想听听他要说些什么，以及他的见解，并展开公开对话。”。“我希望如此。”
At town halls, Elon Musk works to harness his celebrity to boost Trump
On Sunday night, billionaire Elon Musk, in a pitch-black Make America Great Again hat, took the stage at Madison Square Garden to introduce former PresidentDonald Trumpto a packed audience of MAGA supporters.
"I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark Gothic MAGA," Musk said, drawing applause.
Twenty-four hours earlier, Musk was in Pennsylvania, speaking to over 1,200 voters at a packed town hall organized by his political action committee, America PAC, where fans from around the state came to see the tech titan who has thrown his support -- and millions of dollars -- behind Trump's presidential campaign.
Musk, appearing without Trump, spent nearly three hours fielding questions from supporters who asked the billionaire everything from advice on how to raise their daughters to how he would fix the United States educational system. And while Saturday's town hall may have been aimed at helping boost Trump's chances in the state, it was clear throughout the night why many of the attendees came out.
"Elon Musk -- I mean, he's my hero," Austin, a 29-year-old electrician from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, told ABC News. "I'm mainly here to see him."
A 'national treasure'
In the lead-up to Election Day, Musk has embarked on an unprecedented effort to help Trump win the election -- investing millions from his vast fortune into America PAC, which is saturating key battleground states with ads while spearheading Trump's field operations. But the world's richest man is also hoping to help Trump by harnessing his power as an influencer -- a strategy that has been on display at the series of town halls he's been holding around the state.
For Musk diehards like Austin, it might be working.
"I probably wouldn't be willing to come out to the event," Austin said when asked if he would have attended just for the political content. "I don't think I care enough to come to an event -- but with Elon Musk here, absolutely."
Many of the questions at Saturday's town hall focused on issues facing the country, but attendees often turned their focus to Musk himself, with fans heaping praise on the billionaire and using their time to ask for personal advice -- or even pitch Musk on a business opportunity.
A man from West Chester, Pennsylvania, asked Musk if his Neuralink brain-computer interface could heal his friend with spina bifida and help him walk again. One attendee shared with Musk that he'd named his three-year-old son after him and asked for an autograph to give him when he's older. Another attendee asked Musk for parenting advice on how to better inspire his daughter's interest in science and space.
Throughout the evening, supporters praised Musk as a "national treasure," an "American patriot," and "absolutely brilliant."
The most contentious moment of the night came when a young attendee asked Musk what he would say to voters concerned about Trump's refusal to accept the 2020 election results, and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
"You're an idiot," one person in the crowd shouted when the question was asked, and others in the crowd booed.
While Musk said it was a "fair decision," the billionaire went on to downplay the violent attack on the Capitol and pushed unfounded claims of "voter irregularities," claiming that those who went to the Capitol had "some merit."
Musk said the Jan. 6 attack was "in no way a violent insurrection."
"I disagree with the level of protest, but it's, it was in no way a violent insurrection," Musk said of the attack, in which the Department of Justice said over 140 police officers were assaulted and over 160 rioters later pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.
'A heck of a coincidence?'
Throughout his numerous town halls in the state, Musk, who has over 200 million followers on his social media platform X, has also repeatedlypushed misinformationsurrounding the election or previous election cycles.
While appearing at an event in Folsom, Pennsylvania, Musk repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that voting machines had rigged the 2020 election.
"There's always a sort of question of like, say, the Dominion voting machines. It is weird that the, you know, I think they're used in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County, but not in a lot of other places," Musk told the swing state crowd. "Doesn't that seem like a heck of a coincidence?"
A Dominion spokesperson refuted Musk's comments in a statement following the town hall, saying that the company doesn't operate in Philadelphia.
"Fact: Dominion does not serve Philadelphia County. Fact: Dominion's voting systems are already based on voter verified paper ballots. Fact: Hand counts and audits of such paper ballots have repeatedly proven that Dominion machines produce accurate results. These are not matters of opinion. They are verifiable facts," said the spokesperson for Dominion, which last year reached a$787 million settlementwith Fox News after it sued the network for making similar unfounded claims.
On the website of Maricopa County, officials also stated that voting machines in the 2020 election were accurate, writing that a hand count after the election "found zero variances between hand count results and the Dominion tabulation equipment."
Beyond the town halls, Musk -- though his America PAC -- has been holding a series of $1 million giveaways for registered voters. Every day until Election Day, Musk's group has pledged to award $1 million to a randomly chosen registered voter from a swing state who agrees to sign a petition supporting the First and Second amendments.
The lottery quickly sparked controversy, and on Monday, after Musk had given away his eighth million-dollar check, the Philadelphia district attorneysued Muskand his super PAC over the giveaway.
When asked for comment, a representative for America PAC pointed ABC News to a post on X announcing Monday's $1 million giveaway winner, which was published after news of the lawsuit broke. The winner on Monday was from Michigan, according to the post
'I think that resonates'
For many of Trump's die-hard fans at Saturday's town hall, Musk helped solidify their support.
Van Moore, a 39-year-old safety director from Lampeter, Pennsylvania, told ABC News that he's voted for Trump since 2016 -- but that he still likes seeing someone who isn't completely in lockstep with the former president.
"Elon Musk isn't 100% aligned with all of the issues, I would say, with former President Trump, but I do think that they are aligned on a lot of key issues, and I think that resonates, obviously, with people here," Moore said.
Others are hoping the enthusiasm from Musk spreads to those who aren't as supportive of Trump.
"I think he's bringing a lot of people who still are undecided, who maybe want to hear what he has to say, and his insight, and have an open conversation," one attendee said. "I'm hoping."
