Elon Musk’s appearance at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday inspired a massive rally in the Dark MAGA meme coin after the X.com owner told those in attendance that the election was a “must-win situation.”
“As you can see, I am not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA,” Musk, wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat, told the crowd.
The Dark MAGA (DMAGA) meme coin subsequently jumped over 316% ever since.
The rally was Trump’s first in Butler since he survived an assassination attempt there in July. Shortly after the shooting, Musk endorsed Trump, citing his response to the attack.
At the time, President Joe Biden was still running for re-election. He dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.
What is Dark MAGA?
Dark MAGA is just one of the many, irreverent tokens that have emerged in recent years seemingly inspired by Trump, who was once a crypto skeptic but is now an ardent supporter of the sector.
It gets its name from a series of “Dark MAGA” memes created in 2024, depicting Republican nominee Trump as a vengeful, authoritarian figure, often with laser eyes. This was a riff on the “Dark Brandon” meme, which emerged as a pro-Biden satirical response portraying the president often with red laser eyes.
And “Dark Brandon” is, in turn, a riff on “Let’s go, Brandon!” — a conservative euphemism Trump supporters used to criticize Biden. The “Let’s go, Brandon!” meme was ironically embraced by Biden supporters, who co-opted “Dark Brandon” as a symbol of Biden’s accomplishments, flipping the original satirical intent.
But Musk’s embracing of Dark MAGA seemed to be in earnest.
Musk flips the script
Once Trump introduced Musk to the stage, the Tesla CEO leaped into the air several times while supporters cheered.
Musk urged those in attendance to vote and warned in his speech that “this will be the last election” if Trump does not win in November.
Musk was seemingly flipping the script on Trump’s critics, who often cite examples of Trump’s autocratic tendencies to raise concerns about the future of American democracy under his influence.
In addition to an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, Trump pressured state officials, such as Georgia’s Secretary of State, to “find” enough votes to declare him the winner. The twice-impeached former president also expresses admiration for authoritarian figures like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Musk, Trump bromance
Dark MAGA isn’t the first satirical cryptocurrency inspired by the Musk/Trump alliance. Recall how the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) coin surged after Musk tweeted his desire to lead a government efficiency commission if Trump is re-elected.
Since then, the meme coin’s value has fallen off a cliff.
Meanwhile, political polls show a tight race between Harris and Trump.
Harris led Trump by 3.4 points in the national average maintained by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ as of Friday evening.
Both candidates have appealed to billionaires. In addition to Musk, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, the Winklevoss twins and casino tycoon Steve Wynn have all expressed support for Trump’s re-election.
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs; Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; and Mark Cuban, minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, endorsed Harris.
