Musk joins Trump campaign, Obama to take the field for Harris in last leg of US presidential polls

WASHINGTON: With less than a month left for the presidential election in the US, big guns and crowd-pullers are entering the field for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Joining Trump at Butler, a city in Pennsylvania where he narrowly escaped an assassination bid 12 weeks ago, was Elon Musk, the billionaire who has never kept his deep dislike for Vice President and presidential nominees Harris, President Joe Biden and the Democratic party a secret.

On the other side is former president Barack Obama, who has reportedly charted a campaign blitzkrieg for Harris.

In his brief speech at the Butler event on Saturday, Telsa, SpaceX and X boss Musk said this was a must-win situation for the country. In what has come to be his typical fashion of amplifying right-wing talking points, including some that flies on the face of common sense, Musk said Trump must win to “preserve the Constitution” and “preserve democracy in America”.

If the Republicans – and ‘Trumpists’ – did not ensure that they and everyone in their circle registered and voted, “this will be the last election. That is my prediction," Musk said.

The irony of pitching Trump as the last hope of democracy and constitution, the same Trump who is facing a very serious charge of inciting the January 6 violence to upend the results of the election that he lost, was not lost on any except the ones virulently backing Trump and/or hating Harris.

Meanwhile, former president Obama will begin taking part in campaign events for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris from October 10, ABC News reported.

Obama will help Harris in her campaign through election day, his speeches are planned in key swing states, the first of which will be Pennsylvania, a senior member of Harris' campaign told the broadcaster.

Earlier, Politico reported that Democrats, including some of Harris' staff, were concerned that the vice president was not holding enough campaign events, which could cost her the election.

Obama’s decision to take the field is not surprising. Back in 2007 when he launched a long-shot presidential bid against Hillary Clinton, Harris was one of the few who stood in his corner, going door-to-door ahead of the Iowa caucuses in 2008.

When he was the president, Obama returned the favour in 2010 by endorsing her as the attorney general of California. He called Harris “a dear, dear friend of mine”.

“President Obama believes the stakes of this election could not be more consequential and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and Democrats across the country,” Eric Schultz, a senior Obama adviser, said in a statement.