Tech billionaire Elon Musk is on a campaign trail blitz as he rallies support for former President Trump, targeting government regulations as he champions the expansion of American business and cutting government red tape.
Musk officially endorsed Trump this summer, when the 45th president survived the first assassination attempt of this election cycle, and has since joined the campaign trail in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania to drum up support and encourage people to vote. Relying on decades as a technology visionary and business leader who has dealt with strict government regulations, Musk has made red tape a hallmark of his speeches and comments on X.
On Sunday morning, Musk posted on X that he was ready to reveal to the public an allegedly strange scheme in which the company SpaceX was “forced by the government to kidnap seals.”
“Tomorrow, I will tell you how SpaceX was forced by the government to remove the seal, put on earphones and play a sonic boom to see if they were tired,” Musk posted on Sunday morning.
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Musk’s teasing came in response to a clip from what he said was in Pennsylvania that has “a bunch of nut stories” related to government overregulation, including how SpaceX had to study the possibility of its Starship rocket hitting a whale or a shark.
“SpaceX had to do this study to see if the Starship would hit a shark. And I was like … this is a big ocean. There are a lot of sharks. It’s not impossible, but it’s not impossible. So we said, ‘Okay, we’ll do an analysis of whether you can give me shark data?'” said the audience. He said the National Marine Fisheries Service commissioned SpaceX to conduct the study.
“They were like, ‘No, we can’t give you shark data.’ Well, then, OK, we are in a bit of a quandary of how we solve this problem, the sharks are likely to say, ‘Well, we can give it to our western division, but we don’t believe it.’ I was like, ‘Am I in a comedy sketch here?'” Musk said in the clip.
“Finally, we got the data and were able to do the analysis to say, ‘Yes, the sharks are going to be fine.’ But they wouldn’t let us go ahead with the launch until we did this crazy shark analysis, and then we thought, ‘OK, it’s over now.’ But then they said, ‘What about whales?'” Musk continued.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks as former President Trump listens at a campaign event, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
If re-elected to the White House, Trump said Musk could take a new position as “Secretary of Cost-Cutting” for the federal government.
“He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet,” Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo last week on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They just want to be in charge of keeping costs down.”
“We’re going to have a new position: Secretary of Cost-Cutting. Elon wants to do that, and we have an incredible person. He’s running a big business. He can’t just say, ‘I think I’ll go into the Cabinet. .’ Other people can’t, but Elon is a little different.
Back in August, when Musk hosted Trump for an interview at X Spaces, he focused on economic criticism of government overspending as spurring the current inflation problem that is hitting America’s pocketbook.
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“A lot of people don’t understand where inflation comes from. Inflation comes from government overspending because checks never bounce when the government writes them. So when the government spends more than it takes in, that increases the money supply. If the money supply increases faster than the rate of goods and services, hence inflation,” Musk said during the conversation.
“So really we need to reduce government spending, and we need to re-examine … I think we need a government efficiency commission to say like, ‘Hey, where are we spending money that makes sense. Where is it that doesn’t make sense?'”
Musk officially hit the campaign trail on behalf of Trump’s candidacy last week, holding several rallies in Pennsylvania — a place Musk said he knows well, citing his Philadelphia residency when he attended the University of Pennsylvania in the 1990s.
Speaking before an audience in Folsom last week, which is located about 20 miles outside of Philadelphia, Musk highlighted how Space X is facing a $140,000 fine from the EPA for using drinking water to cool the launch pad.
Former President Trump gestures at a campaign rally at the Findlay Toyota Arena, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“I’ll tell you something like crazy, like we were fined $140,000 by the EPA for dumping fresh water on the ground. Drinking water. It’s crazy. I’ll just give you an example of just how crazy it is. ‘Well, we used water to cool the launch pad when you release the water, it’s clean, super clean water,'” Musk told the audience.
“And the FAA said, ‘No, you have to pay a $140,000 fine.’ And we were like, ‘But Starbase is in tropical thunderstorm territory,'” Musk recounted, referring to SpaceX’s headquarters in Texas. “‘It’s the same water we use’ So, and it’s like … there’s no harm done. And he said, ‘Yes, but we don’t have a permit.’ We were like, ‘You need a permit for fresh water?'” Musk recounted.
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Musk stressed that America needs to move from “solving one problem at a time,” to building an industry that “inspires” citizens along with a lot of innovation, but “we’re being slowed down by regulatory molasses.”
Elon Musk jumps on stage as former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Musk’s campaign tour apparently worried Democrats amid Trump’s efforts to sue the Keystone State.
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Pennsylvania is considered a state that will determine the final outcome of the election, with Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly zigzagging the state to rally support among urban, suburban and rural residents. Democratic Senator John Fetterman warned party members not to discount Musk’s influence among Pennsylvania voters.
“Not only has he endorsed (Trump), but the fact that he’s now an active participant and appearing and doing rallies and stuff,” Fetterman told the New York Post, explaining that the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has been very successful. he is an attractive figure for the type of voters Harris needs to win.
Sen. John Fetterman has warned Democrats about Elon Musk’s potential impact on Pennsylvania voters. (Getty Images)
“I mean, (Musk) is very successful, and, you know, I think some people will see him as Tony Stark,” Fetterman said, referencing the popular Marvel Comics character. “Democrats, you know, like make light of it, or they make fun of him jumping up and down and things like that. And I’ll just say they do it at their peril.”
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