Elon Musk Touts 'DOGE' Agency While Endorsing Trump During Pennsylvania Town Hall — Dogecoin Goes Soaring Over 8%

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and owner of social media platform X, threw his support behind former President Donald Trump during a campaign town hall on Thursday while floating the idea of a new government agency named after a cryptocurrency meme.

What Happened: Speaking to voters in suburban Philadelphia, Musk outlined his vision for the “Department of Government Efficiency” popularly called D.O.G.E. — a name referencing the Dogecoin (CTYPTO: DOGE) cryptocurrency that began as an internet joke featuring a Shiba Inu dog.

The world’s wealthiest person emphasized Pennsylvania’s critical role in the upcoming presidential election between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

“Pennsylvania will determine the fate of western civilization,” Musk told the audience at the voter mobilization event.

The tech entrepreneur laid out what he described as “common sense” priorities: “We want secure borders, safe cities, sensible spending so we don’t have crazy inflation. We want freedom of speech, we want the Constitution to be upheld.”

When discussing his proposed DOGE agency’s approach to federal spending, Musk criticized current allocation of resources. “There’s a lot of money being spent where illegals are getting more benefits than citizens,” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

See Also: Trump-Affiliated Entity Will Get 75% Of World Liberty Financial’s Revenue and 22% OF WLFI Token Supply — Assumes Zero Liability

Why It Matters: Musk’s appearance marked his first solo campaign event for Trump, though he had previously endorsed the former president during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, calling Trump’s victory a “must-win situation.”

The event aimed to encourage early voting in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state where Trump and Harris are locked in a competitive race for the presidency.

Musk has increasingly aligned himself with Trump’s campaign, regularly expressing support through posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in 2022.

Price Action: Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin was seen rallying at the time of writing amid Musk’s comments. Dogecoin is currently priced at $0.1352, reflecting an 8.81% increase over the last 24 hours. Over the past year, the cryptocurrency has surged by 129.47%. Trading volume in the last 24 hours reached $1.82 billion, down by 20.74%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

See Also:

• Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe May Have Overtaken These Nasdaq-Listed Companies Toward Billion-Dollar Valuations, But There’s A Catch

Image Via Shutterstock

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.