Trump and Musk Interview Takeaways on X
This combination of pictures shows Elon Musk, left, and Donald Trump, right.
Afp | Getty Images
Musk, a former Trump critic, said the Republican nominee’s toughness, as demonstrated by his reaction to last month’s shooting, was critical for national security.
“There’s some real tough characters out there,” Musk said. “And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they will do what they want to do.”
The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which spanned more than two hours Monday night and was overwhelmingly friendly, revealed little new about Trump’s plans for a second term. The former president spent much of the discussion focused on his recent assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.
Still, the online meeting underscored just how much the U.S. political landscape has changed less than four years after Trump was permanently banned by the social media platform’s former leadership for spreading disinformation that sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress and undermined the very foundation of the American democracy.
During Musk's conversation with Trump, Trump made a passing reference to a "rigged election."
With more than 878,000 users connected to the interview more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, the interview had not yet begun. Many users received a message reading, “Details not available.”
Trump’s team posted that the “interview on X is being overwhelmed with listeners logging in.” And once the interview began, Musk apologized for the late start and blamed a “massive attack” that overwhelmed the company’s system. Trump’s voice sounded muffled at times.
Monday’s interview highlighted the evolving personal relationship between Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most powerful men, who have shifted from being bitter rivals to unlikely allies over the span of one election season.
Musk, who described himself as a “moderate Democrat” until recently, suggested in 2022 that Trump was too old to be president again. Still, Musk formally endorsed Trump two days after his assassination attempt last month.
During their talk, Trump welcomed the idea of Musk joining his next administration to help cut government waste. Musk volunteered to join a prospective “government efficiency commission.”
“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I need an Elon Musk — I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”
Trump’s audience on X is legions larger than on Truth Social, which became a publicly traded company earlier this year. Trump has just over 7.5 million followers on Truth Social, while his mostly dormant X account is followed by 88 million. Musk’s account, which hosted the interview, has more than 193 million followers.
In a reminder that the world was watching, the chat prompted a preemptive note of caution from Europe.
Thierry Breton, a French business executive and commissioner for internal market of the European Union, warned Musk of possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his interview with Trump. In a letter posted on X, Breton urged Musk to “ensure X’s compliance” with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, adopted in 2022 to address a number of issues including disinformation.
WHAT TRUMP TOLD MUSK
- Mr Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - all authoritarian strongmen - as at the "top of their game";
- He spoke of his good relationship with Kim Jong Un, claiming the North Korean leader told him he doesn't like "stupid man" Joe Biden;
- If "something happens" with the election, Mr Trump told Mr Musk they'll meet next time in Venezuela as "it will be a far safer place to meet than our country";
- He also said if he loses the election then "you're not going to have a country anymore";
- Mr Trump said one of his first acts as president would be to close the Department of Education and return responsibility to individual states - adding "out of 50 [states] I bet 35 would do great";
- "I didn't know I had that much blood," Mr Trump said of the attempt on his life, adding he is now "more of a believer in God";
- Mr Trump commented rival Kamala Harris several times, referring to her as "incompetent" and "a radical left lunatic", before praising her looks - "she looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live" and compared her to his wife, Melania;
- Mr Trump repeated debunked claims, including the theory "the Congo" had emptied its prisons of murderers and sent them to the US.
He went on to criticise Democrat rival Kamala Harris's immigration record, claiming she oversaw a huge rise in unauthorised crossings after being put "in charge" of the Mexico-US border.
Ms Harris co-ordinated with foreign countries to address poverty and security issues driving people into the US but was not directly responsible for border policy.
There was one moment in the conversation with Musk where Mr Trump said he saw Ms Harris on the cover of Time magazine. "She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live," he said. "It was a drawing, and actually she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania. She didn't look like Kamala. But, of course, she's a beautiful woman."
Mr Trump complained extensively about undocumented immigrants making their way to the US.
"Elon, what's happened is unbelievable," he told 1.2 million X listeners during his chat.
"They're coming from the Congo, and 22 people came in from the Congo recently, and they're murderers."
The pair also discussed government efficiency, nuclear power and tax cuts in the two-hour broadcast.
The technical issues will bring back bad memories for Elon Musk from May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform.
The hour-long broadcast lost sound for extended stretches, and thousands of users were either unable to join or were dropped.
