Elon Musk makes a disturbing confession

This is the first time that Elon Musk participated in a Donald Trump rally. Saturday evening, in Pennsylvania, where the Republican candidate almost died in July, the Tesla boss presented himself as part of a movement considered “extreme right”, “authoritarian” and guided by an objective ” of revenge. What is this again?

His presence at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, is an event in itself. This is the first time that Elon Musk, proud and powerful ally of the Republican candidate, appeared alongside him in an official meeting. And not just any one. Since it was in this small town that the 78-year-old politician was almost assassinated on July 13, with a bullet that ultimately “only” grazed his ear.

Saturday evening, in front of a crowd of rare density, Donald Trump decided to reenact the scene, now historic, with precise gestures. Enough to shed a few tears and once again attract attention, in a key state and less than 30 days before the presidential election.

But it is Elon Musk who will seduce all the light and complete the electrification of the faithful. As usual, he will tread the stage, hopping awkwardly, almost scaring the politician with his sudden gestures.

Obviously honored to be there, and aware that his presence carries a lot of weight, the richest man on the planet seemed as nervous as a student at graduation. Impressed by the human tide and the challenge, he let out a laugh bursting with stage fright, before uttering his first words.

And that’s where it gets stuck.

You might think he was simply referring to the black “Make America Great Again” cap he had screwed onto his head before he took the stage. This visor, subtitled “Never Surrender” (“Never Surrender”, in French), is one of the last trinkets on sale in the shop of the 45th President of the United States.

However, “Dark MAGA” is also and above all a fringe fringe of the movement launched by Donald Trump in 2015, which the Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET) describes as a “radical far-right group”, which “regularly highlights before white nationalist and neo-Nazi images. And it was in January 2022 that the first bursts of propaganda were spotted on the Internet.

Not surprisingly, these “ultras” do not rely so much on democratic weapons to achieve this. And its existence wickedly haunts the assault of January 6, 2021.

But “Dark MAGA” is first and foremost an aesthetic, full of effects taken from science fiction and projecting Donald Trump into a violent and dystopian future where he defeats all those who would prevent him from ruling the world. No doubt you have already come across one of these slightly diabolical memes, recognizable by their colors (red and black) and these lasers that come out of the eye sockets.

Because what was still only a marginal momentum in January 2022 spread very quickly thereafter, reaching the most popular alt-right propagandists on social networks and certain representatives of the House at the heel of the billionaire from Palm Beach, like conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene.

If he made the heyday of Twitter at the beginning, it was on Telegram that this army was deployed to push Donald Trump to run for office in 2024, although he never publicly recognized or supported the movement . The GNET had also found an astonishing comparison to this violent desire for revenge, in an article from Newsweek dating from April 2022:

Clearly, the most aggressive supporters of the Republican candidate have long implored him to strengthen both his policies and his attitude, sometimes finding him too lenient with those who “stole the election” from him, facing Joe Biden in 2020 On social networks, the hashtag #darkmaga was regularly accompanied by an unambiguous message:

For Tim Squirrell, head of communications and editorial at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, “Dark MAGA” was born from the desire “to unite the disparate factions of right-wing extremism, which largely fractured after the infamous racist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.”

In 2022, the GNET already admitted at the time that it is difficult to discern the irony of real calls for violence, as this movement plays with the humorous codes specific to the Internet. Especially since this aesthetic was widely borrowed by Democrats to mock pro-Trump people, with the creation of “Dark Brandon” – a futuristic version of Joe Biden spitting lasers out of his eyes. Even today, this graphic is one of the best sellers in campaign merchandising and it was used by the president himself, notably in certain campaign videos.

But for Tim Squirrell, even at the time, “the problem is that Dark MAGA further radicalizes an already quite radical movement.” Two years later, it is clear that Donald Trump’s aggressive program and rhetoric are no longer dystopian. In 2024, revenge is more than ever on the lips of the supporters of the Republican candidate, some of whom are ready to do anything to regain power.

We do not yet know why Elon Musk, one of the most influential right-wing provocateurs on his own social network, and who literally opened his algorithms to the far right, mentioned Dark MAGA on Saturday evening. For some observers, it may also have simply given a boost to the cryptocurrency of the same name. During the speech of the boss of SpaceX, the price of this currency also took the elevator, according to the media Wired.

One thing is certain, the new leader of “Dark MAGA” is ready to do anything to put power in the hands of his new best friend. During Butler’s rally, he chanted that “Trump must win the election to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. Because otherwise, we risk never having another election in the country.”

For more reports made in US