The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, addressed a crowded city corridor Saturday in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the place he downplayed the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot and prompt mail ballots have been a “recipe for fraud.”

In response to a person who requested Musk what his message was to younger voters who fear “that voting for a second Trump presidency will result in democratic backsliding,” Musk replied, “The media tries to characterize Jan. 6 as some form of violent rebel, which is just not the case,” he mentioned, prompting applause from the group. Greater than 100 legislation enforcement personnel have been injured within the assault, some overwhelmed with their very own weapons, when a mob of Trump supporters who believed his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him stormed the Capitol to cease the certification of votes.

“It isn’t as if the Jan. 6 protests had no advantage, that they had some advantage,” Musk continued. “I disagree with the magnitude of what they did, however it’s not as if there have been no points,” mentioned Musk. 

Musk claimed that folks “who say Trump is a risk to democracy are themselves a risk to democracy,” a remark that was additionally acquired with applause by the group of a number of hundred folks packed into the ballroom. Many extra watched the occasion on X, the social media platform Musk bought two years in the past.

Trump, he mentioned, “did really inform folks to not be violent.” Whereas Trump did inform the group on Jan. 6 to protest “peacefully and patriotically,” he additionally inspired them to “combat like hell” to cease Democrat Joe Biden from changing into the president. 

Musk spent practically two hours taking questions from city corridor members. The freewheeling session inside a ballroom at a lodge in downtown Lancaster touched on a dizzying vary of subjects, from area exploration and the Tesla cybertruck to immigration and the efficacy of psychiatric medication. The city corridor was a part of Musk’s efforts by his tremendous PAC to assist enhance Trump in swing states forward of the Nov. 5 presidential election in opposition to Democrat Kamala Harris. Trump has mentioned he’d give Musk a job in his administration if he wins the presidency.

Musk was largely praised by the city corridor crowd as a visionary and solicited for recommendation and ideas about schooling, arm wrestling, tax loopholes and whether or not he’d purchase the Chicago White Sox. (He mentioned he was a tech man and needed to decide his battles.) Trump received Lancaster County in each the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, and he received Pennsylvania in 2016 in opposition to Hillary Clinton however misplaced it in 2020 to Joe Biden.

Musk mentioned he was in favor of “not heavy handed” regulation of synthetic intelligence and railed in opposition to “woke faith” as “basically an extinctionist faith.” He mentioned the U.S. start fee is a major concern.

He mentioned he believes Jesus was an actual one that lived about 2,000 years in the past and, when requested for the very best recommendation he is ever acquired, replied: “I like to recommend learning physics.”

Musk, the world’s richest man, has dedicated greater than $70 million to spice up Trump within the election and, at occasions on behalf of his tremendous PAC, has inspired supporters to embrace voting early. Nonetheless, echoing a few of Trump’s misgivings concerning the technique, Musk raised his personal doubts concerning the course of. He known as mail ballots “an odd anomaly that received popularized throughout COVID,” and he went on to say of mail voting that “actually, you’ve an apparent recipe for fraud and incapability to show fraud.”

There are a selection of safeguards to guard mail-in ballots, with numerous poll verification protocols, together with each state requiring a voter’s signature. 

He additionally known as city corridor participant Judey Kamora to the stage to present her a big $1 million verify, a part of his promotion to give away $1 million a day to a voter in a swing state who has signed his tremendous PAC’s petition backing the U.S. Structure.

Musk made no point out of the Justice Division’s latest warning that his $1 million sweepstakes may violate federal election legislation. Nor did he touch upon a Wall Road Journal report that the tech billionaire has maintained common contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The giveaways are simply wonderful with Josh Fox, 32, a UPS driver from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania.

“That is cool,” Fox mentioned, ready to get into the rally earlier Saturday. “It will be good to have it.”

Fox, who plans to vote for Trump, dismissed any suggestion the cash could violate federal election guidelines.

“It is about driving in help and driving in people who find themselves in help of the Structure,” Fox mentioned.

Anne Bryson

contributed to this report.