Donald Trump's live chat with Elon Musk on X plagued with glitches Musk claims were from cyberattack
Donald Trump ran through his checklist of conspiracy theories in a rambling conversation with uber-wealthy supporter Elon Musk Monday night that was initially derailed by technical problems.
Trump's return to X, formerly known as Twitter, lasted more than two hours, was overwhelmingly friendly and shed little light on Trump's plans for a possible second time around in the Oval Office.
What was billed as a "no limits" conversation between the two billionaires started more than half an hour late, with many of those logging on unable to listen in live.
Musk, the world's richest man, according to Forbes, claimed without evidence that X had experienced a cyber "attack."
In a very one-sided conversation on X, Trump vented about a "zombie apocalypse" of immigration, repeatedly blasted President Biden as "stupid" and mused on developing a new missile defense system based on the one that defends Israel.
The Republican standard-bearer also dismissed climate change, whose sea-level rises he said would simply create more real estate opportunities.
"The biggest threat is not global warming, where the ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years," he told Musk.
"You'll have more ocean front property, right? The biggest threat is not that. The biggest threat is nuclear warming, because we have five countries now that have significant nuclear power and we have to not allow anything to happen with stupid people like Biden."
Musk's backing of Trump intensifying
The conversation was intended to help reinvigorate Trump's stuttering campaign, which has flagged since Mr. Biden dropped out of the race and was replaced by a surging Kamala Harris.
The young men who view Musk as a hero are a prized target for Trump, whose following tends to skew older.
Musk, who has said he previously voted Democrat, has thrown his weight — and his wealth — behind Trump since a gunman tried to assassinate the Republican at a rally last month.
During the conversation, Musk called Trump's actions following the assassination attempt "inspiring," saying that it was part of the reason he was excited to endorse he former president's latest White House bid.
"Instead of shying away from things, instead of ducking down, you were pumping your fist in the air and saying 'fight, fight, fight,'" Musk said to Trump.
Trump details assassination attempt
Trump addressed the shooting, saying, "If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now — as much as I like you."
The former president, who was grazed in the ear by a bullet, said the experience was "not pleasant," adding, "I didn't know I had that much blood."
"The doctors later told me that the ear is a place ... a very bloody place," Trump said, noting that it was probably the best place he could have been hit and calling it a "miracle" that his head was tilted toward the shooter at that critical moment the bullet whizzed past.
He said he's now "more of a believer" in God because of surviving the attack.
The former president said he plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting occurred, in October.
"We're all set up," Trump said, calling Butler a "great area." "The people are fantastic in Butler."
Trump criticizes Harris, compares her appearance to his wife's
The former president questioned Vice President Harris' intelligence and ability to be a leader on the world stage, saying "she's not a smart person."
"We need smart people, and we need people that have an ability to lead, and she doesn't have that ability," he said of his rival.
He discussed the media coverage of Harris since she vaulted to the top of the Democratic ticket, claiming Harris is getting a "free ride," and Trump compared Harris' appearance on a new Time magazine cover image to his wife, Melania.
"On Time magazine today, she looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live," Trump said of Harris. "It was a drawing, and actually she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania."
Harris campaign responds
The Harris campaign responded to the interview with a statement saying Trump's "extremism" was on "full display" during the conversation with Musk.
"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," campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said.
Technical issues in focus
The apparent technical difficulties come in the wake of Musk firing swathes of staff at the platform and served as an uncomfortable reminder that the Tesla boss had once backed Trump's rival Ron DeSantis, whose campaign launch on the platform was also beset by problems.
When things finally got under way, Musk said the "massive attack illustrates there's a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say."
Musk commented on X:
Given the prominence of this conversation, there was of course a 100% probability of DDOS attacks. We also had some unforced errors ourselves.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
But good work by the X team fending off the attacks and fixing our mistakes!
All’s well that ends well.
Musk's growing right wing presence
Trump was banned from Twitter after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, but Musk reinstated him when he took the platform over and renamed it.
Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has emerged as a major voice in U.S. politics but has been accused of turning X into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories.
He is one of the Democrats' fiercest critics, leveraging his 194 million-strong following on X to assail liberal efforts to boost diversity and inclusion — what he calls the "woke mind virus" — and the White House's handling of the southern border.
In his "chat" with Musk, Trump returned often to a favorite theme — boasting about his relationship with autocrats like Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, and insisting America would be safer under his stewardship.
"One of the things we're going to do is we're going to build an Iron Dome," he said, referring to Israel's missile defense system.
"We're going to have the best Iron Dome in the world ... because it just takes one maniac to, you know, start something."
Musk reiterated his strong support for Trump, saying the ex-president "was the path to prosperity and Kamala is the opposite."
Musk for hire?
At one point Musk also appeared to be seeking a job under a future Trump administration, suggesting he'd like to serve on a cost-cutting committee.
"I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and and just ensures that taxpayer money ... is spent in a good way," he said. "I'd be happy to help out on such a commission."
Trump appeared sold on the job application.
"You're the greatest cutter," he told the man who slashed staff after taking over Twitter.
Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report