Billionaire Elon Musk promoted debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud Thursday on the first of a sequence of deliberate marketing campaign occasions throughout Pennsylvania meant to rally help for former President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign. 

At a city corridor hosted at a highschool outdoors Philadelphia, Musk referred to the false conspiracy principle that Dominion Voting Methods was a part of a plot to rig U.S. elections in recent times.

“When you will have mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship, it is virtually unattainable to show dishonest,” he mentioned, responding to an viewers member’s query about election fraud. “Statistically there are some very unusual issues that occur which might be statistically extremely unlikely. There’s all the time this query of, say, the Dominion voting machines. It’s bizarre that, I believe, they had been utilized in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County [in Arizona] however not in a whole lot of different locations. Does not that appear like a heck of a coincidence?”

“The very last thing I might do is belief a pc program,” he mentioned, selling the concept U.S. elections ought to use solely paper ballots. The Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive nonprofit legislation and public coverage institute, has discovered that 98% of votes within the normal election are anticipated to be forged on paper ballots.

Dominion didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The corporate has broadly rejected any claims that it has participated in efforts to govern elections. Final yr, it struck a $787.5 million settlement with Fox News in its defamation lawsuit in opposition to the media outlet over such claims.

Opposite to Musk’s declare that Dominion’s software program was utilized in solely a small variety of counties, a Reuters fact-check discovered that Dominion methods had been utilized in at the least 24 states for the 2020 elections.

Musk’s look, which was streamed live by the Philadelphia Fox station, in addition to on X, comes as Musk has ramped up his help for Trump. Musk has given practically $75 million to his pro-Trump America PAC, which he established this yr. Two weeks in the past, he joined Trump onstage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

Musk has additionally turned his personal X account, with greater than 200 million followers, into a virtually nonstop stream of Trump help, wherein he has repeatedly pushed false claims about immigration and voter fraud. 

Research and investigations have found that there is no proof of widespread voter fraud within the U.S. When voter fraud has occurred, prosecutors have efficiently introduced circumstances in opposition to perpetrators together with in a extremely publicized fraud scheme in North Carolina.

Musk spoke for about 10 minutes in what appeared to be off-the-cuff remarks that ranged from considerations about censorship and authorities spending to the Second Modification and security in cities, making the declare that cities have change into much less secure for his or her residents. The most recent data released by the FBI has prompt that crime has typically been dropping throughout the U.S., together with in main cities.

Talking in regards to the U.S.-Mexico border, Musk in contrast it to the zombie film “World Conflict Z.”

Musk then took questions for about 40 minutes, at one level partaking with a member of the viewers who was shouting about Democratic megadonor George Soros, who has lengthy been the topic of antisemitic conspiracy theories. In response, Musk referred to as Soros “evil” and mentioned he’s “tearing down the material of society.”

In a response to a different query, Musk pushed a baseless conspiracy principle that Vice President Kamala Harris was being managed by an unknown group of individuals. 

Musk repeatedly inspired the viewers members to have interaction their family and friends members and get them registered to vote within the state — the place the deadline to register is Monday.

“Pennsylvania is the linchpin on this election, and this election goes to determine the destiny of America and, together with America, the destiny of Western civilization,” Musk advised the group as he stood in entrance of an American flag.