Voting in the 2024 U.S. presidential election officially began, and on Tuesday (November 5), Bitcoin and Dogecoin saw short-term gains in Asia's afternoon session. A Pennsylvania judge ruled that Musk's practice of giving out $1 million daily can continue, and he released important interview content at the last minute before the election to defend Republican presidential candidate Trump, stimulating a rise in Trump's winning probability close to 60%.
Just after midnight on November 5, Eastern Standard Time, voters in the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, were the first to cast their ballots, marking the official start of voting in the 60th U.S. presidential election.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Trump delivered their final campaign messages to Pennsylvania voters, holding events almost simultaneously in the southeastern part of the state. As the presidential campaign came to an end, both candidates focused their attention on Pennsylvania, which is seen as key to securing victory.
In the final moments before the election, Musk released significant interview content on Twitter, unexpectedly appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, accusing the Democrats of hypocrisy and spreading misinformation. During the conversation, Musk also discussed the ongoing accusations against Trump, calling them "scams" and likening them to tactics used in dictatorship.
Trump and his campaign partner Vance appeared on Rogan's show, where Musk has been actively campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania, reiterating: "If Trump doesn't win, this will be the last real election."
Musk talked about what he believes are dangerous judicial methods employed by the government, comparing this strategy to how his company SpaceX is treated, claiming that authorities arbitrarily target it and then find reasons to investigate. "They have identified SpaceX as a target," Musk said. "They later discovered it was a crime."
Rogan agreed, pointing out that Trump's critics accuse him of wanting to weaponize the judicial system if he is re-elected, but Musk believes the Democrats have already done so. "They are doing everything they accuse Trump of doing—openly," Musk said. He believes that while some political exaggeration is normal, the Democrats repeatedly create "scams" to undermine Trump.
Musk also harshly criticized a campaign ad from Harris, which allegedly distorted Trump's comments on border security, suggesting he was stripping away women's rights. Musk described the strategy of taking Trump's statements out of context, saying, "They don't even complete a sentence... and push it into every ad, every speech, every media outlet."
He also expressed concern about the left's shift toward authoritarianism that he observed. He claimed that although he once aligned with progressive values, he now feels the Democratic Party has become extremely oppressive, especially regarding free speech.
Musk believes that suppressing dissenting opinions on certain topics reflects an agenda to control public opinion. "If they try to suppress people's ability to communicate, they do so simply because they want to force people to do things they don't want to do," he said.
On Monday local time, a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that Musk's practice of giving $1 million to voters daily can continue. CNN reported that this ruling was a victory for the tech billionaire and Trump ally. According to CNN, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta dismissed the argument from the city's District Attorney Larry Krasner, who argued that the lottery constitutes an illegal lottery under state law and must cease immediately.
On Tuesday afternoon in Asia, meme coins like Dogecoin and DMAGA surged.
Bitcoin also rebounded from an overnight slump, rising back above $68,600.
According to data from the large cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket, after Musk's support was announced, Trump's winning probability has slightly increased, approaching 60% again.
