Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., speaks as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during a campaign rally at Dodge County Airport, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Juneau, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

During an Oct. 18 appearance on Newsmax, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for campaigning with “out-of-state billionaire” Mark Cuban — even as former President Donald Trump embraced billionaire Elon Musk for doing the same.

Responding to a question about Cuban campaigning with Harris in La Crosse, Wis. the previous day, the Wisconsin representative said it was laughable that the Harris campaign would bring in “an out of state billionaire” to campaign in Wisconsin. 

“It’s a strange technique to bring in an out-of-state billionaire reading from an iPhone at a rally,” Steil said.

The comment is one of immense irony, given that Steil’s preferred nominee, Donald Trump, is campaigning with Elon Musk, a Texas-based  billionaire. Musk has campaigned for Trump three times in Pennsylvania in the past month through his America PAC, with the first one occurring before Steil made those comments. Trump has praised Musk’s out-of-state barnstorming, saying, “We owe Elon a lot.” And Trump, according to his own words, is also a billionaire based in Florida. 

Unlike Cuban, however, Trump has been convicted on over 30+ counts of fraud for his business dealings in New York, while also facing severe legal troubles from his role in the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol and his attempts to overturn election results in Georgia. Cuban also isn’t paying would-be voters $1 million to sign petitions and vote for Trump, which is considered by many legal experts to be wildly against the law.