Former President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders want Elon Musk to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, CNBC reported Friday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The hope is that a Musk convention speech would help raise the partys lackluster support among younger voters, who tend to lean Democratic by significant margins. In 2020, the party tried something similar by having Charlie Kirk, the founder and CEO of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, give the conventions opening speech.
If Musk does speak in favor of Trump in July, he would take on a role similar to that of venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who spoke at the 2016 convention. So far, Thielwho co-founded PayPal with Muskhas said that hes sitting out the 2024 race, arguing that the first Trump administration was crazier and more dangerous than hed expected.
CNBC wasnt able to report whether Trump or any of his associates have directly raised the prospect with Musk, but one source did note that new RNC chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump will both likely be behind the idea of inviting Musk to Milwaukee.
The news comes days after Musk traveled to Florida to meet with Trump, who is desperately seeking an injection of campaign cash as he stares down the barrel of a significant fundraising disadvantage against his likely general election opponent, President Joe Biden. On Wednesday, after news of the meeting broke, Musk took to X, formerly Twitter, to tell his 175 million followers that, just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President. (Though he didnt say it explicitly, he was clearly referring to Trump and Biden.)
Though Musk began telling his followers in 2022 to vote for Republicans, hes maintained an ambivalent and sometimes acrimonious relationship with Trump. The Tesla CEO criticized the former presidents decision in 2017 to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, and the two went after each other in the summer of 2022, with Musk saying that it was time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset." Before Trump secured a virtual lock on the GOP nomination, Musk made approving remarks about the abortive candidacies of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and also hosted an online event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But Musks Wednesday comment doesnt necessarily settle the issue of whether hell financially support Trumps re-election bid, as it leaves the door open to him contributing some of his near-$200 million fortune to a pro-Trump PAC or nonprofit. (Musk, moreover, has a history of breaking public promises, as Business Insider noted Wednesday.)
And even if Musk doesnt donate directly to Trumps re-election effort, he will likely contribute via his mammoth social media following, to which he has steadily fed a diet of right-wing conspiracies over the past year. In just the last week alone, Musk speculated that the Biden administrations immigration policies amounted to treason and accused it of importing voters to lay the groundwork for something far worse than 9/11.
On Friday night, Musk posted a photoshopped image of Biden putting a Presidential Medal of Freedom on Jhoan Boada, a Venezuelan migrant whose face was plastered all over right-wing media after he was mistakenly identified as a participant in an assault of two New York police officers. Unfortunately for Musk, readers added a community note to the post, noting that Boada was misidentified as a suspect and has been exonerated off [sic] all charges.
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Trump Wants Elon Musk To Speak at the Republican National Convention: Report - Vanity Fair
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