Irish Examiner view: Elon Musk's championing of Trump puts US democracy in a dangerous place

Musk has claimed, without evidence, that this year's presidential election could be the last free election in the US

Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter/X chief Elon Musk shakes the hand of former US president Donald Trump after addressing his election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

The relentless promotion of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy by Elon Musk to his 200m-plus followers on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which was bought by the businessman for $44bn, is unprecedented in US political history.

That the entrepreneur, said to be the wealthiest man in the world, is using the media platform to spread conspiracy theories about Trump’s opponent, vice president Kamala Harris, and the Democratic Party, is only one aspect of how he is impacting the forthcoming election.