Republican presidential contender Donald Trump sat down on Monday, August 11th, for a cordial two-hour discussion with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Musk’s social media platform X, after technical issues delayed the event for more than 40 minutes.
Musk wrote on social media in reaction to the technical issues, saying “there looks to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏. Trying to shut it down,” he said, indicating that he may continue the interview with a more intimate group of listeners. The term DDOS refers to “distributed denial of service.” His claims have yet to be validated.
This was Musk’s second failure to pull out a high-profile X Space launch alongside a presidential contender. First, there was a turbulent beginning to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s Republican presidential campaign in May 2023 due to a delayed and collapsed Twitter broadcast.
On his own social media network, Truth Social, at the time, Trump made fun of DeSantis. “My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!)” Trump wrote on social media, “Yours does not.”
Looks like karma still works.
“I assume that everyone who supported Trump and made fun of DeSantis for crashing his Twitter space with Musk will also make fun of him here. LOLOLOLOL, said Erick Erickson, a conservative pundit, using an emoji of a clown.
Going back to Trump’s interview, he attempted to downplay the issue by congratulating Musk on the volume of listeners. During the long talk, a counter on X indicated that up to 1.3 million individuals were occasionally tuning in.
This year, Musk has been interested in 2024 presidential prospects; Musk’s interview with Trump was intended to be the third in a series of interviews with them. But Musk has now promised to fully back Trump’s third campaign with both X feed real estate and his complete backing. By using his personal wealth and his ardent internet following, the multibillionaire might increase Trump’s prospects of winning re-election.
The former president and the world’s richest billionaire spoke extensively about a variety of topics, including Trump’s assassination attempt, illegal immigration, climate change, nuclear war threats, and his intentions to reduce regulations.
Trump remarked of the Russia-Ukraine war, “That war had zero chance of happening if I was there.” He said, “This stupid administration” was the reason inflation occurred.
In addition, Donald Trump gave a detailed account of his own assassination attempt and pledged the biggest deportation in American history. “As much as I like you, I would not be talking to you right now if I had not turned my head,” Trump said to Elon Musk, the owner of X.
Musk gave Trump an unhindered opportunity to air his typical mix of complaints, personal jabs, and exaggerated or false claims during the conversation. Musk did not refute his false claims, such as the claim that criminals from other nations were being sent across the southern U.S. border from their prisons. Research indicates that immigrants—including those who are here illegally—commit no more crimes than Americans of native birth.
The men showered each other with compliments. Musk’s support, according to Trump, “meant a lot to me, but not all endorsements mean that much, in all honesty. It meant a lot that you supported us.” And Musk asserted, “I believe we’re at a crossroads in civilization’s destiny and I believe we need to take the right path, and I believe you’re the right path.”