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WASHINGTON >> In speeches to pro-Trump voters across Pennsylvania, Elon Musk has repeated a line he uses about the assassination of Vice President Kamala Harris — saying it would be pointless because she is a “puppet” of unnamed Washington power brokers.

“Nobody even bothers to try to kill Kamala,” Musk said Saturday night at a town-hall-style event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to scattered laughter. “It’s pointless. Why? They’ll just get another puppet.”

In the same talks, Musk has also raised the prospect that he himself may be assassinated, for supporting former President Donald Trump.

“I’ve had quite a few friends call me and say” that “they’re definitely going to try to kill you,” Musk said in Lancaster, adding: “I’m like: ‘Uh, yeah that’s a good chance. They might try to do that.’”

Musk has made these comments while talking about the two assassination attempts against Trump this year. So far, investigators have not found evidence that the two gunmen in those cases were linked to each other or any broader conspiracy. However, one would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, searched online for information about both Trump and President Joe Biden, as well as a few other prominent politicians.

Nonetheless, Musk has cast the attempts as evidence that shadowy interests are out to get Trump, and now Musk himself.

“Dramatically increasing my risk of being assassinated, and engaging in politics, are not what I want to do. I do not have a death wish,” Musk said in Pittsburgh this month. “But the stakes are so high that I feel I have no choice but to do it.” The crowd applauded.

The increasingly foreboding and, at times, coyly crass language comes as Musk has taken a higher-profile role in the effort to elect Trump and defeat his Democratic challenger. He has made numerous public appearances on Trump’s behalf in Pennsylvania, perceived to be a critical state for both campaigns.

On Saturday, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, posted an ad on his social media platform, X: “America really can’t afford the C-Word in the White House right now.” In larger type, it said, “Kamala Harris is a C Word.” Then it revealed that the word in question was not the vulgar one the post suggested, but “Communist.”

The post was deleted. Mediaite reported the contents of the ad.

Neither Musk nor America PAC responded to requests for comment from The New York Times on Monday. Harris’ campaign declined to comment, as did the Secret Service.

Jennifer Mercieca, a communications professor at Texas A&M University who has written about Trump’s speeches, said Musk’s assertion that he was in personal danger was a powerful rhetorical tool, one that compelled loyalty from people.

“I speak the truth, I protect you, so you owe me your vote and loyalty,” she said, noting that Trump had used a similar tactic by saying his legal troubles were a sign that people were out to get him. “It’s how personality cults are built.”

Mercieca said that mentioning the possibility of Harris’ assassination may cause some listeners to think it should be done. “Obviously it gives people the idea that someone ought to do that,” she said. “We’ve really taken a turn here. It’s really dark.”

Musk has spoken at five in-person events around Pennsylvania this month and appeared at a virtual town hall on Friday night. These events have included giveaways of $1 million checks to supporters who have signed a petition set up by Musk’s PAC, which supports Trump.

The events typically start with a short speech by Musk, then move to questions from the audience. In his speeches, Musk has riffed about Trump and celebrated his own companies and his role as the head of a “department of government efficiency” that would give him oversight of the agencies that regulate his businesses if Trump were to win.

Musk has spoken about the election in apocalyptic terms, telling audiences that American democracy may soon be effectively over if Trump loses.

“If Trump doesn’t win, this is the last election,” he said outside Philadelphia in Folsom, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 17. Musk insinuated that Democrats would import immigrants to outvote Republicans permanently. Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally cannot legally vote.

But among all those topics, Musk has often returned to the idea of assassinations.

He first raised the prospect of an assassination attempt against Harris in September, after the second attempt against Trump. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Musk wrote on X, along with a thinking-face emoji.

Musk deleted that post after backlash, but the same idea has since become a standard feature of his talks in Pennsylvania.

“I’m not suggesting someone should try to kill her,” he said in a town hall near Harrisburg on Oct. 19. “I’m just making an observation: Nobody’s bothered. Why is that? Because it doesn’t matter.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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