It felt a bit like a joke: The wealthiest man in the world walks into a church to pay people to vote for his porn-star-loving friend—all in the name of God. But no one laughed at the spectacle of Elon Musk’s recent Get Out the Vote rally at the Life Center Church in Harrisburg, Pa. After all, Musk wasn’t trying to get into heaven on his four-date speaking tour; he was simply trying to get Donald Trump back into power using his wealth and a PAC called America.
What would Jesus do? Perhaps drive his Cybertruck into the building, accusing everyone inside of turning God’s house into “a den of thieves.” But chances are, everyone would be too busy praising the name of Trump to care.
Musk’s church rally was the latest showcase of the uneasy alliance between what remains of the religious right and something like its opposite: culture warriors, many of them tech bros, who miss the anything-goes macho nihilism of the 1990s and early aughts—but who are labeling themselves “Christians” now.