Elon Musk and Dark MAGA

This past Saturday, Donald Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, just 12 weeks after the attempted assassination. And speaker after speaker proclaimed that the only reason Trump is alive is because of God. One of those speakers was JD Vance.

“I believe, as sure as I’m standing here today, that what happened was a true miracle. And on that day, America felt the truth of scripture – ‘Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.’ I truly believe that God saved President Trump’s life that day.”

Trump, of course, picked up on that theme when it was his turn to speak:

“By the hand of Providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal, did not come close. He did not break our spirit. He did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America from evils of poverty, hatred and destruction.”

Many of the speakers also referenced Trump’s words of “Fight, fight, fight” from back in April, and remarked how courageous he was. There was even a statue of Trump with his fist raised, situated on the back of an old army truck and surrounded by various flags.

There were multiple references to the so-called angel flag, which many of the rally goers interpreted to be a sign that God was watching over Trump on July 13th. The clear and persistent message of the rally was that God saved Donald Trump so that Donald Trump could save America.

But the moment that undoubtedly received most of the headlines was when Trump invited Elon Musk on stage. The world’s richest man walked out wearing a shirt which said “Occupy Mars” and a black MAGA hat.

After a bit of an awkward dance, Musk said, “As you can see, I’m not just MAGA. I’m dark MAGA.”

Musk’s statement about Dark MAGA could be seen as a simple reference to his black MAGA hat, which would have stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of red MAGA hats. But there is a lot more going on that we might suspect.

For starters, Dark MAGA is a memecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency inspired by online trends. Coincidentally, the valuation of the Dark MAGA memecoin soared after Musk spoke, which reflects how highly volatile memecoins are in general.

There is NOT proof, however, that Musk said what he said in order to influence the valuation of this memecoin. Rather, what Musk was likely doing was alluding to a much deeper meaning behind the phrase Dark MAGA, and that meaning IS truly dark.

Dark MAGA refers to how Trump is portrayed in dystopian or even Terminator-like images and memes. These images use a black and red color scheme, with blue or red lasers coming out of his eyes. But, the color scheme is just the beginning.

More than just a meme, Dark MAGA symbolizes a growing political movement on the far right. It has been embraced by QAnon and neo-Nazi elements within the Trump movement, and other fringe groups, who are calling on Trump to take vengeance on his political enemies with violence.

The meaning behind the usage of Dark MAGA imagery is to promote the idea that Donald Trump needs to literally destroy his enemies, in every sense of the word. It symbolizes an openly fascist version of the Trump movement.

Dark MAGA represents a much more aggressive and authoritarian version of Trump, portraying him as a powerful figure determined to restore America by any means necessary. In this view, all that matters is Trump getting back in power and his enemies destroyed.

The public embrace of Dark MAGA by Musk is viewed by these far-right groups as being his endorsement of the idea that Trump must regain power by any means necessary. And, as it turns out, Elon Musk is doing much more than just mouthing the words Dark MAGA.

Shortly after Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he fired the vast majority of the company’s trust and safety employees – the people who attempted to keep hate speech, misinformation and disinformation off the platform.

Musk also reinstated the accounts of people who had been banned from the platform, including Alex Jones and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. Hate speech, misinformation and disinformation on X promptly soared under Musk, and it has not been by accident.

According to Newsguard, which tracks false narratives online, Elon Musk is one of the most prolific spreaders of misinformation on his own platform: He has directly advanced 17 false narratives that appear in NewsGuard’s database of provably false claims.

In addition, Musk’s role in spreading misinformation extends far beyond his personal X account. Newsguard discovered that Musk is also a frequent booster of other accounts that spread false information, helping through his engagement to increase their follower counts dramatically.

Newsguard analysis revealed that between January and June of 2024, the four accounts Musk engaged with most frequently on X were repeat spreaders of misinformation – with Musk’s massive X following makes his amplification of false information especially significant.

Newsguard reviewed more than 4,000 of Musk’s posts from Jan. 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024, to see which accounts he interacted with most frequently. Interactions include when Musk posts a link, quotes a post, responds to a post, or reposts.

Here are the top four accounts that Musk engaged with over this six-month period, according to NewsGuard’s review:

1. @EndWokeness (220 Musk interactions)
2. @WallStreetSilv (181 Musk interactions)
3. @stillgray (174 Musk interactions)
4. @libsoftiktok (132 Musk interactions)

These four accounts are referred to by Newsguard as “misinformation superspreaders” because of their documented history of repeatedly spreading false information. In their case, each of these four accounts has promoted at least 7 to as many as 12 provably false narratives.

All of this means that Elon Musk is not only deliberately spreading false information via his own personal account on X, but that he is amplifying other accounts on X who are known spreaders of false narratives.

There is a type of hacker called a “Black Hat.” These hackers are evil people who use their technical skills to defraud and blackmail others. They have the expertise and knowledge to break into computer networks, exploit security vulnerabilities, and bypass security protocols.

Musk wearing a black hat may or may not be a subtle reference to himself being a black hat hacker, but his deliberate spreading of false information online does demonstrate that he is fully on board with Dark MAGA’s goal of returning Trump to power by any means necessary. ♦