Trump and Elon Musk Host Friendly Conversation on X After Technical Difficulties Delay

 Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, and former president Donald Trump had a cordial discussion on Monday on X following a more than 40-minute delay in their interview due to technical issues. 

Trump and Elon Musk

The Trump campaign is facing a number of obstacles as it tries to get back on track after the Democratic Party came together behind Vice President Kamala Harris. The postponement of this important interview is just one more. Additionally, this is the second time Musk has had difficulties attempting to open X Space with a presidential contender in front of large crowds.

Trump returned to X with this conversation, over a year after his account had remained dormant. When Trump shared his mugshot during his processing at an Atlanta jail in connection with the Georgia election subversion case in August of the previous year, it was his last post on the platform. As of Monday night, Trump had added almost 900,000 new followers since he started participating on X.

Musk asked questions during the discussion that let Trump stick to his talking points, which were centered on immigration and the economy. Trump restated some of the highlights of his campaign stump speech, and Musk refrained from pressing him on any of his fabrications.

The two men exchanged compliments, with Musk stating, “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 I think you’re the right path.”

Trump expressed his gratitude for Musk’s endorsement, saying, “Your endorsement meant a lot to me. Not all endorsements mean that much, to be honest.”

Musk suggested that Trump form a new presidential commission focused on “government efficiency” and appoint him to it. Trump responded, “I’d love it.”

Trump began the conversation by recounting the assassination attempt he survived at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. He praised the Secret Service for their swift response to the shooting and detailed how local police and rally attendees had spotted the shooter.

Energy policy, climate change, nuclear war threats, immigration, and federal government spending were just a few of the many subjects they discussed. Musk suggested forming a commission to look into ways to cut government expenditure, while Trump pledged to carry out the "largest deportation in the history of this country."

Without providing any proof, Trump charged Democrats were trying to pull President Joe Biden out of the race. He also made fun of Biden's mental state and Harris's appearance on a Time magazine cover, saying that Jewish voters for Democrats had to have their "heads examined."

“We can talk about tunnels and rockets and electric cars, so many things. And now you’re into AI, and that’s going to be another beauty,” Trump said to Musk near the end of their conversation. At several points, Trump’s speech seemed slurred, which sparked online discussion.

When asked for an explanation, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded, “Must be your hearing.”

Harris’ campaign issued a statement describing Trump and Musk as “self-obsessed rich guys.”

“Trump’s entire campaign serves people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and can’t even run a livestream in 2024,” Harris campaign spokesman Joseph Costello said.

A Slow Start

Musk said that the company's servers had been overloaded by a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack when technical issues prevented them from starting their chat right away. It was unclear, though, if the problem stemmed from rude people or was just the outcome of too many people attempting to listen.

"Looks like 𝕏 is the target of a significant DDOS attack. Attempting to shut it down," Musk wrote on X. "In the worst scenario, we'll record the conversation later and broadcast it to a smaller live audience."

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