Three key takeaways from Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s X interview
Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a talk on X/Twitter (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
US presidential hopeful Donald Trump sat down for an interview with billionaire Elon Musk on X on Monday evening (12 August), marking the former president’s return to the platform.
The conversation, delayed by more than 40 minutes by tech issues, lasted for about two hours, during which the two controversial figures talked about immigration, the economy and the recent assassination attempt on Trump.
Musk has already endorsed Trump for president.
Here are the key takeaways from the conversation.
X falters after a ‘DDOS attack’
Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for approximately $44 billion (about £35.5 billion at the time), before rebranded it as X. He fired thousands of members of staff without notice, moves which were mocked and criticised in equal measure.
Under Musk’s ownership, the platform has reportedly dipped hugely in value, monthly user numbers have dropped and advertisers have left the platform, purportedly because of the disinformation and extreme right-wing content which goes on unchecked. It has also reinstated hard-line right-wing figures – including Trump’s account which was removed in January 2021 – and rolled back protections for trans people and the general moderation of hate speech.
The tech issues which plagued the Trump-Musk conversation echoed that of the glitch-ridden event when DeSantis announced his candidacy in May 2023.
At that time, Trump mocked the Florida governor and X on his own social media platform, Truth Social, writing: “My red button is bigger, better, stronger and is working (truth!)”
Some users trying to access the latest conversation faced difficulties joining while others heard only music.
Musk claimed the issues were down to a “massive DDOS,” a denial-of-service attack, which refers to a malicious party flooding a targeted server, service or network with an influx of internet traffic, overwhelming and disrupting it.
“As this massive attack illustrates, there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say,” Musk said.
Trump, however, congratulated Musk on the traffic levels saying it “[breaks] every record in the book with so many millions of people”.
Trump attacks Harris in the usual fashion
As expected, Trump took aim at his rival for the White House, Kamala Harris and – in his usual fashion – refused to call her by her surname, the same way he treats outgoing president Joe Biden. It is a trend, coupled with the fact he always mispronounces her name, which critics have labelled both sexist and racist.
He called her a “border tsar” and “radical left, San Francisco liberal” who has “destroyed” California, but bizarrely complimented her look on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine.
“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,” Trump said, comparing the vice-president to his wife.
Trump also attacked the Democrats more widely, saying there are “bad people in our government” who are “more dangerous” than foreign threats such as Russia and China – countries which he praised for their “tough”, “smart” and “vicious” leadership.
He also alleged that Biden is in a “vegetable state” and that the Democrats staged a “coup” to replace him with Harris, adding: “[They] took [Biden] out back behind the shed and basically shot him.”
A place for Musk in a Trump presidency?
The two controversial figures were chummy during the talk, with Musk full of praise for Trump despite the fact the pair of them have criticised each other in the past.
Musk called Trump “incredibly inspiring” in the face of the attempt on his life and said: “America is at a fork in the road and you are the path to prosperity, Kamala is the opposite.
“I think we’re at a fork in the road of destiny, of civilization, and we need to take the right path. I think you’re the right path.”
These statements echo a post Musk made on X in March, where he said her had “voted 100 per cent Dem until a few years ago” but now believes “we need a red [Republican] wave or America is toast”.
In turn, Trump seemingly complimented Musk for his history of firing staff.
“You’re the greatest cutter,” the former president said. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone’.”
Harris’ campaign page published a scathing response to the pair’s conversion, saying: “Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature, not a glitch, of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on x.com.
“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.”
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