Democratic hoaxes: Rogan endorses Trump citing Musk

WEB DESK: Joe Rogan endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday night citing Elon Musk as his reason, while the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris were making their respective final pushes in Pennsylvania. 

While the end result of Rogan’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, was an endorsement for Trump, the podcaster pointed to Elon Musk as the reason for his support of the former president. “The great and powerful Elon Musk. If it wasn’t for him we’d be fucked,” wrote Rogan. Musk has been a pivotal part of Trump’s election efforts. The billionaire donated $75 million to America PAC, his own pro-Donald Trump campaign group in October. 

“He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way,” wrote Rogan, referencing the most recent episode of his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, which featured Elon Musk. The two discussed a range of topics, beginning with lies spread by the Democratic party.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY HOAXES

“There’s no way the Kamala regime would allow it to exist,” said Musk during a discussion of X and how the Democratic party is allegedly attempting to censor their opposition. “Hate speech, misinformation, whatever, except they’re the ones pushing the misinformation.”

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According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, false claims regarding the US election peddled by Musk have amassed over 2 billion views. The non profit organisation also stated that Musk has been found promoting false claims about the US election by fact checkers in at least 87 posts.

“They’re doing all the things that they accuse Trump of doing, the sheer number of hoaxes the democratic party is pushing over and over again,” Musk continued. Musk has been involved in his own share of hoaxes, such as advertisements targeting Muslim and Jewish voters in swing states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, which are funded by the billionaire’s aforementioned campaign group, America PAC.

Advertisemnts targeting Muslims claimed that Harris and her husband were a “pro-Israel power couple,” while those targeting Jewish voters stated that “two-faced Kamala Harris is secretly campaigning for Palestine and trying to get away with it.”

“Politicians are going to exaggerate, they’re going to misspeak, they will tell occasional untruths in politics,” said Musk before adding that when you have “deliberate, concerted, repeated pushing of hoaxes, you’re like wait a second, come on man, this is too far.”

Musk cited what he dubbed the ‘fine people hoax’, which refers to a statement Trump made in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. The group of white nationalists were defending a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee which was set to be removed by the city. In the midst of anti semitic slogans such as “jews will not replace us,” fistfights broke out between the right wing group and counter protesters, ultimately resulting in the death of a 32-year-old woman who was killed by a white supremacist who drove his car into a group of counter protesters.

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Trump made it clear that he condemned the “hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.” In the following days, a reporter clarified that the “neo-nazis started this thing,” after Trump reiterated that there was violence on ‘both sides’. “You had some very bad people in that group,” Trump said, amending his statement right after by adding that “you also had some very fine people on both sides.” Trump and his supporters, including Musk, continue to deny that this statement was made in support of the white supremacists.

Musk’s statements regarding hoaxes come as a surprise due to evidence proving Trump has reiterated lies throughout his campaign. The former president has pushed the idea that the 2020 election was rigged, a baseless claim that Trump continues to reiterate while knowing it is false. A 165-page motion released in early October showcased how Trump planned to dispute the election after being informed by his advisors that once mail in ballots were counted, Joe Biden would likely take the lead in the COVID-19 afflicted 2020 election. 

ELECTION INTEGRITY

Musk discussed the petition supporting gun rights and free speech started by his PAC. The billionaire has been donating $1 million at random to people who sign the petition. Musk claimed that the Democratic party is fighting against the first amendment due to worries about misinformation, which Rogan claims can be effectively fought against by ‘Community Notes’, a feature on X which informs readers about misinformation on posts. 

The Center for Countering Digital Hate found that the feature is ineffective in correcting false claims about the US election. The center claims that in a sample of 283 misleading posts, 74 per cent were not corrected by ‘Community Notes’.

Musk’s aforementioned donations have also led to accusations that the Tesla founder’s efforts to support Trump may be illegal. Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 597, which deals with expenditures to influence voting, states that “Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate,” as well as whoever accepts or receives any such expenditure, “Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was wilful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

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University of California, Los Angeles law school professor, Rick Hasen, stated that Musk’s offer was “clearly illegal” due to the fact that only registered voters in swing states can sign the petition. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a civil lawsuit claiming that Musk was trying to influence voters in the election through his donations, however a Pennsylvania judge ruled on Monday that Musk’s PAC may continue their donations through election day.