In the past, the brainwashed MAGA base has stormed the Capitol, purposely mispronounced Kamala Harris’ name, and indulged in a wide variety of other weird tactics to try and gain the approval of their overlord Donald Trump. But Elon Musk dancing around the stage like a toddler fresh out of a candy store? That was a new level of cringe no one was ready for.
It goes without saying that MAGA rallies are some of the wildest events in the history of U.S. politics. Trump himself was nearly assassinated back in July at one of his own rallies in Butler, Pennsylvania, and later nearly met the same fate at the hands of one of his fellow Republicans. That being said, Musk, the controversial Chairman of X (formerly Twitter), illustrated just how bizarre MAGA supporters can be when he danced, jumped, and generally frolicked around the stage at Trump’s latest Butler rally like he was a paid mascot rather than a guest.
Trying to imagine the cringiest, most unsettling, and deeply jarring moment in real time might seem like a far-fetched concept, but luckily, when there’s a cringefest happening at a Trump rally, there tends to be a nearby camera capturing every head-shaking second for the internet to watch later. After Musk’s stage-leaping was shared on X, comedian Deven Green was quick to swoop into the replies under her satirical Betty Bowers account, writing: “Anyone who has ever had to deal with a husky toddler on a sugar high at Target, who is deeply in need of immediate and constant attention, can immediately identify.” You can check out the moment for yourself down below:
As expected, an occasion this cringe has elicited a large number of reactions, with many folks on X insisting that “this might be the cringiest sh*t I’ve ever seen in politics” while others hilariously pointed out that Musk was up on stage ironically acting like a sugared-up toddler despite both him and Trump having 17 children with 6 different women between the two of them.
As awkward and embarrassing as this very public moment was, Trump and Musk coming together to give a head-scratching “performance” in front of a crowd of backward-thinking voters is hardly a surprise, especially given that these billionaires tend to travel in packs and continuously donate large amounts of money to each other. The cherry on top of this disaster sundae, of course, featured Trump using toddler-esque language to get Musk’s attention. “Come here,” Dumpy Don shouted at Musk in an attempt to gain control over the 53-year-old, who was busy jumping around like he’d just found the last copy of Fortnite at the bottom of a Walmart clearance bin. Meanwhile, over 230 people have died as a result of Hurricane Helene’s unexpected devastation as the east coast braces for another storm in the form of Milton. But yes, by all means, let’s jump around on stage like idiots, grown men.
While MAGA followers will undoubtedly continue to label the moment as “badass” and “historical,” the rest of us are left dumbfounded after watching one of the cringiest encounters in human existence play out like a deeply bad high school musical. If you don’t believe us, just hop into your time machine and travel back to the moment Tim Walz insisted that the Trump-Vance campaign and its herd of followers ⏤ especially those who would rather die than see Trump accept defeat ⏤ are downright “weird.” Walz was onto something, only now we might need a new word given that Trump and Musk have taken us well past “weird” and into territory that verges on “disturbing.”