When Elon Musk sauntered onstage at Donald Trump’s recent Pennsylvania rally, wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt and an all-black “Make America Great Again” hat, he declared himself not only a Trump supporter, but a heavy for “dark MAGA.”
“Ooh, dark MAGA?” Jon Stewart quipped on Monday’s episode of The Daily Show. “I didn’t know it came in flavors! I wonder if for the holidays they’ll come out with peppermint bark MAGA. Or pumpkin spice MAGA.” After taking some swipes at Musk’s overly enthusiastic presence at the rally—“He’s acting like a guy who won a radio contest”—the late-night host grew serious about the tech billionaire’s assertion that Democrats are the anti-free-speech party.
“Now, you might think one of the world’s richest men controlling one of the world’s most influential platforms could be a recipe for what some may consider election interference,” Stewart began. “You stupid, stupid people. You disgust me. Election interference is what Mark Zuckerberg did.” Stewart then reminded viewers that Trump has threatened the Facebook cofounder about engaging in election interference this election cycle, with the former president having accused him of doing so back in 2020. However, the ex-president seemingly has no issue this cycle with Musk offering his followers money to register swing voters.
Stewart also noted that Trump’s campaign has called the new movie The Apprentice a fictionalized depiction of Trump’s early rise to power and “election interference by Hollywood elites,” adding that Trump has threatened legal action over its release. Said Stewart, “Oh, come on! That’s election interference? Maybe it’s election interference, but you gotta be a little bit flattered that you’re being played by Sebastian Stan.”
The segment later cut to a clip of Musk claiming that Democrats are coming after free speech. “Elon, were you not watching the rest of the show?” Stewart asked. “A movie Trump doesn’t like is gonna get sued. A tech mogul he doesn’t like, he wants to put in prison. It’s not free speech if only Trump’s admirers get to do it without consequence.”
Stewart’s commentary turned even more contentious after he played another clip of Musk at the rally. “But at least the Constitution remains intact and is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment,” Stewart said before showing a clip in which Musk said: “The Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment.”
“Guns don’t protect our free speech!” Stewart replied. “Our free speech is protected by the consent of the governed, laid out through the Constitution. It’s not based on the threat of violence. It’s based on elections, organizing referendums, a judicial system. Our social contract offers many, many avenues to remedy these issues and allows sides to be heard and adjudicated. Guns, from what I can tell, seem to mostly protect the speech of the people holding the gun.”
Stewart didn’t stop there. Musk’s words, he said, are “a tool of intimidation, and one that I think is actually being irresponsibly and recklessly invoked. Because some people in your crowd thought they might have been shadow banned by Facebook. I mean, for God’s sakes: You guys are in Butler, Pennsylvania. The whole reason you’re there is because some fucking asshole with an AR-15 tried to permanently litigate his vision of this country’s free speech. That’s why you’re there. The whole point of a society is, guns don’t decide it. I would prefer at this moment not to trade in a government that offers me many remedies for my concerns, legitimate or illegitimate, for a situation where my rights are determined by how many militia members agree with me.”
