Elon Tempts Destiny With Dominion Voting Conspiracy Idea

Elon Musk has been campaigning hard for Donald Trump, in an effort to get his fellow billionaire re-elected President. A giant a part of Musk’s political technique to date has been to rile up conservative voter blocs with rightwing, anti-Democrat conspiracy theories and misinformation. Throughout a marketing campaign occasion within the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania, Musk just lately gestured at a well known (and, as some former Trump compatriots have discovered, highly libelous) conspiracy principle: that the usage of voting machines offered by Dominion Voting Programs is, one way or the other, a questionable concept.

Apparently not deterred by the truth that the final individuals who accused the electioneering firm of wrongdoing discovered themselves in a years-long litigation battle that led to a $787 million payout, Musk waded cautiously into harmful rhetorical waters throughout a city hall-style occasion in Folsom, Pennsylvania on Thursday. When requested by an viewers member concerning the problem of voter fraud, Musk took a short detour into his favourite place: conspiracy-land.

“When you could have mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship, it’s nearly unattainable to show dishonest,” Musk stated, in response to the viewers member’s query. He then added: “Statistically there are some very unusual issues that occur which are statistically extremely unlikely. There’s at all times this query of, say, the Dominion voting machines. It’s bizarre that, I believe, they have been utilized in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County [in Arizona] however not in a number of different locations. Doesn’t that appear like a heck of a coincidence?”

Cautious, Elon, cautious. I believe your life’s already difficult sufficient with out one more titanic authorized battle in your fingers.

Musk has used his recently purchased internet platform, X (previously Twitter), to push absurd rightwing conspiracy theories, a lot of which have linked the Democrats to plots to use illegal immigrants to commit mass voter fraud. Typically, Musk has appeared fairly undiscerning with the sorts of claims he makes (he recently claimed, as an illustration, that, as an alternative of serving to hurricane Helene victims, FEMA had “used up its finances ferrying illegals into the nation,” a fictional act that Musk dubbed “Treason” ). That stated, the billionaire additionally seems to have discovered that in the case of Dominion Voting Programs, it’s higher to err on the aspect of ambiguity somewhat than make any statements that would get your self sued into oblivion. Saying that the usage of Dominion voting machines is “bizarre” isn’t precisely what Rudy Giuliani said.

When reached for remark by Gizmodo, a Dominion Voting Programs spokesperson offered the next response to Musk’s feedback: “Truth: Dominion doesn’t serve Philadelphia County. Truth: Dominion’s voting techniques are already based mostly on voter verified paper ballots. Truth: Hand counts and audits of such paper ballots have repeatedly confirmed that Dominion machines produce correct outcomes. These should not issues of opinion. They’re verifiable information.”

Gizmodo reached out to Musk by way of Tesla for clarification on his feedback. We’ll replace this story if he responds.

Musk has concerned himself within the U.S. electoral course of in a style that’s mainly unprecedented in fashionable historical past. The tech billionaire is credited with working Trump’s floor sport in main swing states, and has leveraged tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to take action. He has poured cash into quite a lot of completely different pro-Trump teams, the likes of which have resorted to more and more unconventional marketing campaign methods to generate voters.

On Friday, as an illustration, news broke {that a} Musk-linked PAC was micro-targeting Muslim and Jewish voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania with contradictory political adverts (the adverts focusing on the Muslim voters allegedly claimed Harris was shut with Israel, whereas the adverts focusing on Jewish voters claimed she was anti-Semitic). One other Musk-funded group reportedly created what has been dubbed a “faux pro-Harris” marketing campaign web site which highlights “disproven and deceptive claims about Harris’ positions.” On prime of all of this, Musk has just lately resorted to paying voters to sign political petitions, in a observe that has election regulation consultants raising their eyebrows.