Elon Musk interviews Trump live on X after delay
United States Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump has returned to the social media platform X as he attempts to recover from a rocky couple of weeks on the campaign trail.
On Monday, he marked the occasion by sitting down for a chat on Spaces with platform owner Elon Musk, who has publicly endorsed Trump’s campaign for re-election.
The last time Trump had posted on the social media website was when he posted his mugshot from being processed at an Atlanta jail in the Georgia election subversion case in August of last year. Trump had gained around 900,000 new followers as of Monday night since he started posting again on the platform.
The discussion eventually got under way about 40 minutes late after what Musk claimed was a “massive” cyberattack on the platform, previously known as Twitter. He said the audience would be limited and a recording would be shared afterwards.
Over a rambling chat that lasted nearly two hours, the two men talked about Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the European Union, China, climate change, censorship and migration. The Republican took the chance to talk at length on some of his pet topics and repeat claims he is the victim of a political vendetta, while Musk repeated his backing for Trump on multiple occasions.
Throughout the conversation, Musk asked Trump softball questions that allowed the former president to stick to his talking points, including on immigration and the economy. He repeated parts of his campaign stump speech and was not challenged by Musk on any of his false claims.
The two men also heaped praise on each other, and Musk claimed, “I think we’re at a fork in the road of destiny of civilization and I think we need to take the right path and, and I think you’re the right path.”
Trump said Musk’s endorsement “meant a lot to me,” and added, “Not all endorsements mean that much, to be honest. Your endorsement meant a lot.”
Musk at one point suggested Trump should form a new presidential commission focused on “government efficiency” and appoint him to it. Trump immediately responded, “I’d love it.”
After Trump claimed Harris was a “radical left lunatic” and “worse than Bernie Sanders”, Musk responded: “It’s essential that you win the election for the sake of the country.” About 1.2 million people were listening in.
Trump without evidence accused Democrats of a coup to remove President Joe Biden from the ballot. He discussed Harris’ appearance on a Time magazine cover and took jabs at Biden’s mental state. He said Jewish people who vote for Democrats should have their “heads examined.”
“We can talk about tunnels and rockets and electric cars, so many things. And now you’re into the AI, and that’s going to be another beauty,” Trump said to Musk near their conversation’s end.
At several points throughout the interview, Trump’s speech sounded as if he had a lisp or was slurring his words, which attracted attention online.
Memes of Trump as Mike Tyson and Donald Duck immediately began trending.
When asked whether there was an explanation, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Must be your hearing.”
There was also an awkward moment that might put the politician in the doghouse at home where he told Mr Musk that his presidential rival Ms Harris bore a resemblance to his wife.
Discussing Kamala's Time cover he said: 'She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. It was a drawing, and actually, she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania'.
In the hours leading up to Monday’s talk, Trump’s campaign played it up as “the interview of the century”. He also posted a string of campaign videos, attacking Harris and warning his followers about perceived threats from the political left.
Trump’s campaign has taken a hit since Joe Biden stood aside for Harris leaving 78-year-old Trump the oldest candidate in the race for president.
The vice president and her running mate Tim Walz have reenergised the Democrat campaign, appearing at a string of rallies in recent days. Recent polls have given her the edge over Trump in key battleground states in the Midwest.
The Harris campaign was dismissive of the chat.
Harris’ campaign described Trump and Musk as “self-obsessed rich guys” in a statement.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024,” Harris campaign spokesman Joseph Costello said.
One more photo below.
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