Elon Musk’s Town Hall Was 2 1/2 Hours On Aliens, Elections And Chick-Fil-A

LANCASTER, Pa. — For two and a half hours, in a Marriott ballroom transformed into a moody red, blue and black town hall space, no question was off-limits for Elon Musk, the man who wants to colonize Mars — and whose latest project is bankrolling one of the biggest get-out-the-vote operations for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
And for two and a half hours on Saturday night, Musk delivered a one-man show that was part Q&A from random audience members, part stream of consciousness, and part self-styled stand-up routine.
“We will be illegal aliens on Mars,” mused Musk, the world’s richest man, talking about space and his desire for humans to eventually inhabit another planet, moments after doing a starfish jump in black cowboy boots.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO was the headliner for the event put on by his political action committee, America PAC, which has sunk at least $75 million of Musk’s personal fortune into electing Donald Trump in key swing states. The bulk of Musk’s efforts appear to be in Pennsylvania, where Musk just hosted his second town of the election cycle that featured ― despite a warning from the Department of Justice ― the latest installment of America PAC’s daily million-dollar giveaway for people who sign his petition in support of the Constitution. (Musk argued this wasn’t an illegal bribe to vote. “You don’t even have to vote. It would be nice if you voted, but you don’t have to,” Musk said after handing a woman a gigantic prop check.)
The event was, in theory, about voting in this election for Donald Trump. After subjecting the audience to 45 minutes of college football on jumbo screens, Musk finally hopped, literally, onstage and encouraged people to vote in any way possible, including early in-person and via absentee ballot.
But mostly, this was a vehicle for Musk ― who can’t run for president himself as a foreign-born naturalized citizen ― to be the center of attention and a major player in American politics, especially with both him and Trump suggesting Musk may have a role in a Trump White House that would directly influence policy for his tech companies.
“Listen, I love America,” said Musk, a native of apartheid South Africa. “And some of you will say, ‘Look, that’s just jingoistic propaganda.’ I don’t care. I love jingoistic propaganda. It’s awesome.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has no shortage of celebrities in her corner — Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem. The list really does go on and on. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has, in terms of household names that might get you to the polls, Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock and Elon Musk.
But unlike Hogan or Beyoncé, Musk has actually taken on the role of campaign surrogate and financial benefactor, spending more than $130 million to help Trump and the GOP in this election cycle. Musk also controls one of the world’s biggest social media sites that happens to be a major supplier of election disinformation benefitting Trump.
That’s made Musk an easy target for Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has called Musk Trump’s “running mate” and says he’s trying to buy Trump the election while “skipping like a dipshit” onstage with him. Musk is often now the image used in TV ads when Democrats want to invoke billionaires receiving undeserved tax cuts.
The critiques of Musk don’t land well with all Democrats, especially those with ties to a tech world that regards Musk as visionary. “Democrats need to show Americans that we are still the party of innovation. Part of that means acknowledging the accomplishments of people like Elon Musk with SpaceX, Tesla and Starlink, even while disagreeing with his stances,” Rep. Ro Khanna, the Democrat representing Silicon Valley, wrote in a statement to HuffPost.
There’s no question that Musk can draw a crowd in a way that, say, billionaire mega-donor Charles Koch of the right-wing Koch Brothers could not. After standing in a line that wrapped around a city block, more than 1,500 people maxed out an event space to see Musk take unscripted questions ranging from whether Jesus Christ was a real person to Musk’s favorite techniques for arm wrestling. The answers were both illuminating in terms of what Musk may seek to get out of a second Trump term — and bizarre.
Musk suggested several times there should be “quite radical” cuts of government costs and spending, and a significant loosening of regulations. “If we get rid of regulations we need, we’ll put them back,” Musk said, dismissively.
He also downplayed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol (a question that came from a young voter who got booed by the audience when he asked about the democratic “backsliding” under a second Trump term), which led Musk to argue the day was neither “violent” nor an “insurrection.” He questioned voting “irregularities” in the 2020 election that Biden “won-ish.” Musk also said “those who say Trump is a threat to democracy are themselves the threat to democracy.”
At other points, Musk offered his thoughts on whether aliens currently live among us (“maybe … but I haven’t seen it”), the ubiquity of pharmaceuticals (“some drugs are pretty sketch”), his favorite baseball team (New York Yankees, because he likes the name), and the best advice he’s gotten or can give (“aspire to be less wrong”). The crowd ate it up — for at least the first two hours.
Despite its implied objective of encouraging voting, many of the people who preregistered to attend Musk’s town hall appeared to have either already voted for Trump in this election or plan to next Tuesday. And they’d be voting for Trump whether or not Musk had asked them to sign a petition or confirm their registration status — the barrier to entry for registering for the event.
“[Musk] comes with a lot of ideas that are good, so I’d like to hear what his ideas are,” said Jan Caccamo, a retired 66-year-old who had already voted for Trump but was curious to hear what Musk had to say.
“I just got really aware when he endorsed Trump. That was really a huge deal for me,” said Janelle Kennedy, 40, who asked Musk whether he backs Trump’s proposal to mandate that insurance companies and the government pay for in vitro fertilization. Musk, a proponent of increasing the birth rate, said yes.
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Musk has a way of using circular logic to make his points, or saying unremarkable things in a way his audience finds profound. “If masculinity is so toxic, how come the kids who are messed up don’t have dads?” Musk said, prompting a round of applause. Moments later, Musk observed that “common sense bounces off the government like water off a duck’s back.”
“I’m just curious,” Musk explained in response to a question scratching at what motivates him, “and I want to understand the nature of reality.”
Musk also seemed delighted to have dreamed up “a kind of crazy idea” on the fly for managing immigration at the Southern border, which was that the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, because of its reputation for customer service, should be put in charge of immigration.
“They are so efficient … they just get it done,” Musk said ― and the audience roared.
CORRECTION: A prior version of this article misstated Musk’s role at Tesla.