On Sunday evening, billionaire Elon Musk, wearing a black Make America Great Again hat, took the stage at Madison Square Garden to introduce the former president. Donald Trump in front of a large audience of MAGA supporters.

“I’m not just MAGA, I’m a dark gothic MAGA,” Musk said, drawing applause.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Musk was in Pennsylvania, speaking to more than 1,200 voters at a packed town hall hosted by his political action committee, America PAC, where fans from across the state came see the tech titan who gave him his support. and millions of dollars – behind Trump’s presidential campaign.

Musk, appearing without Trump, spent nearly three hours answering questions from his supporters who asked the billionaire everything from advice on how to raise their daughters to how he would fix the American education system. And while Saturday’s town hall may have been aimed at boosting Trump’s chances in the state, the reason many attendees were out was clear throughout the night.

“Elon Musk, I mean, he’s my hero,” Austin, a 29-year-old electrician from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, told ABC News. “I’m mainly here to see him.”

A “national treasure”

As Election Day approaches, Musk has embarked on an unprecedented effort to help Trump win the election: investing millions of his vast fortune in America PAC, which is saturating key U.S. states with ads. battlefield while directing Trump’s field operations. But the world’s richest man also hopes to help Trump by leveraging his power of influence — a strategy that has been demonstrated during the series of town hall meetings he has held across the state.

For Musk diehards like Austin, this could work.

“I probably wouldn’t be willing to come to the event,” Austin said when asked if he would have attended just for the political content. “I don’t think I’m interested enough to come to an event, but with Elon Musk here, absolutely.”

Many of the questions asked at Saturday’s town hall focused on issues facing the country, but attendees often turned to Musk himself, with fans heaping praise on the billionaire and using their time to ask for personal advice – or even pitch Musk on a deal. opportunity.

A man from West Chester, Pennsylvania, asked Musk if his Neuralink brain-computer interface could cure his friend with spina bifida and help him walk again. One attendee shared with Musk that he named his three-year-old son after him and asked for an autograph to give him when he was older. Another participant asked Musk for parenting advice on how to better inspire his daughter’s interest in science and space.

Throughout the evening, his supporters hailed Musk as a “national treasure,” an “American patriot” and “absolutely brilliant.”

The most controversial moment of the evening came when a young attendee asked Musk what he would say to voters concerned about Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his role in the 6 attack. January against the Capitol.

“You’re an idiot,” one person in the crowd shouted when the question was asked, and others in the crowd booed.

While Musk said it was a “fair decision,” the billionaire later downplayed the violent attack on the Capitol and pushed unfounded claims of “election irregularities,” saying those who rendered to the Capitol had “some merit.”

Musk said the Jan. 6 attack was “in no way a violent insurrection.”

“I don’t agree with the level of protest, but it was by no means a violent insurrection,” Musk said of the attack, in which the Justice Department said more of 140 police officers had been attacked and that more than 160 rioters had subsequently pleaded guilty to assault. law enforcement.

“A hell of a coincidence? »

During his many town hall meetings in the state, Musk, who has more than 200 million followers on his social media platform driven to misinformation surrounding the election or previous election cycles.

At an event in Folsom, Pennsylvania, Musk repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that voting machines rigged the 2020 election.

“There’s always kind of a question about, for example, Dominion voting machines. It’s weird, you know, I think they’re used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County, but not in a lot of other places,” Musk said. told the Swing State crowd. “Doesn’t that sound like quite a coincidence?”

A Dominion spokesperson refuted Musk’s comments in a statement following the town hall, saying the company does not operate in Philadelphia.

“Fact: Dominion does not serve Philadelphia County. Fact: Dominion’s voting systems are already based on voter-verified paper ballots. Fact: Hand counts and audits of these paper ballots have proven repeatedly that Dominion machines produce accurate results These are not matters of opinion “These are verifiable facts,” said the Dominion spokesperson, who reached an agreement last year. $787 million settlement with Fox News after suing the network for making similar baseless allegations.

On the Maricopa County website, officials also said voting machines in the 2020 election were accurate, writing that a hand count after the election “found no discrepancies between the hand count results and Dominion tabulating equipment.”

Beyond the town halls, Musk – through his America PAC – has organized a series of million-dollar giveaways for registered voters. Each day until Election Day, Musk’s group has pledged to award $1 million to a randomly chosen registered voter in a swing state who agrees to sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

The lottery quickly sparked controversy, and on Monday, after Musk handed out his eighth $1 million check, the Philadelphia district attorney continued Musk and his super PAC for the gift.

When asked for comment, an America PAC representative pointed ABC News to an article about X announcing Monday’s $1 million winner, which was published after the lawsuit was announced. Monday’s winner was from Michigan, according to the post

“I think it resonates.”

For many die-hard Trump fans in attendance at Saturday’s town hall, Musk helped solidify their support.

Van Moore, a 39-year-old security director from Lampeter, Pennsylvania, told ABC News he has voted for Trump since 2016 — but still likes to see someone who isn’t completely in line with the former president.

“Elon Musk is not 100% aligned on every issue, I would say, with former President Trump, but I think they are aligned on a lot of key issues, and I think that obviously resonates with people here,” Moore said.

Others hope Musk’s enthusiasm will spread to those who aren’t as supportive of Trump.

“I think he brings a lot of people who are still undecided, who maybe want to hear what he has to say, his point of view, and have an open conversation,” one attendee said. “I hope.”