The US Presidential election race has been a rollercoaster.
Though after the performance by Elon Musk at an election rally for Donald Trump, many US voters will be begging to get off the ride.
Space X CEO Elon Musk was invited to appear alongside Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Pennsylvania. The same location that previously saw an attempted assassination of Trump three months ago.
Musk took to the stage and began a bizarre spate of leaping up and down, before shouting to the crowd: “America is the home of the brave and the true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. We had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot! FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!”
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Commenters on social media were quick to label Musk’s performance “weird” and “cringy”.
One poster on Twitter/X said: “They've jumped the shark, the boat dock, the beach, and town or two. Insanity. I don't know how anyone can take this s**t seriously anymore.”
Another spoke about an intense feeling of second-hand embarrassment: “actually feel embarrassed for this fool, he may have more money than god but it can’t save you from looking like the biggest horses ass on the planet.”
Trump said words of praise to Musk for a donation of Starlink satellite communication systems to victims of Hurricane Helene, though he then admitted he didn’t know much about the system, “I didn’t know what the hell Starlink was.”
Musk then repeatedly told the crowd to vote, register to vote and get friends and family to vote. “I’m being repetitive for a reason. Honestly you want to be a pest. Fight, fight, fight! Vote, vote, vote!”
The crowd responded by chanting Musk’s name.
Those watching the rally and commenting on social media remained largely unimpressed: “Gross and cringe. Neither of the men on stage have any aptitude to be normal.” said one X user. “It was definitely awful,” agreed another, “I found myself unable to look away. Kinda like watching Hannibal Lector.”
The sense of second-hand embarrassment was a theme, with one user saying: “Elon's dancing around in the background like a toddler on a sugar high-embarrassing.”
Another user said it reminded them of a similarly cringy moment from years ago: “Reminds me of that Tom Cruise Oprah weirdness from 20 or so years ago.”