Elon Musk says the Trump assassination attempt is making him want to build a flying metal suit of armor
Evan Vucci/AP; Marc Piasecki/Getty Images
- Former US President Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
- Elon Musk said the incident had got him rethinking his own security protocols.
- Musk gave a full-throated endorsement of the presumptive GOP nominee after the shooting.
The shooting in Pennsylvania that left former President Donald Trump bleeding from the ear is making Elon Musk rethink his security protocols.
"You better beef up your security too @elonmusk," an X user called Whole Mars Catalog tweeted at Musk on Saturday night, after the shooting.
"Maybe it's time to build that flying metal suit of armor," Musk replied.
Ian Miles Cheong, a Musk friend and common fixture on X also asked Musk to "triple" his protection, writing on X: "If they can come for Trump they will also come for you."
"Dangerous times ahead," Musk wrote in response to Cheong. "Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas."
Videos taken at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally showed Trump speaking before gunshot noises rang out. The former president was then seen ducking while agents ran to cover him.
Trump was then seen standing up and defiantly raising a fist — with streaks of blood streaming down his face.
The FBI has now named the 20-year-old suspect in the assassination attempt, and an active investigation is ongoing.
Musk, for his part, has stopped sitting on the fence over on his support for Trump, and gave a full-throated endorsement of the presumptive GOP nominee after the shooting.
"I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk wrote on X.
Musk has also donated an undisclosed amount of money to America PAC, a super political action committee working to elect Donald Trump in 2024, sources familiar with the donation told Bloomberg on Saturday.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The billionaire previously stated on X that he had no plans to donate to any US presidential candidate.
Following the shooting, Musk launched into a reply spree on posts alluding to the shooting being due to incompetence from the Secret Service and blaming Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle for the incident.
"Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate. Either way, the SS leadership must resign," Musk wrote on X on Saturday night.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.