The interview was initially delayed due to technical difficulties, but once it began, it turned into a wide-ranging discussion covering last month’s assassination attempt on Trump, immigration, foreign policy and the economy. During the interview, Trump repeatedly gave convoluted answers, many of which were filled with lies.
When discussing the economy, Musk often talks about runaway government spending, which he believes has led to inflation and the high cost of paying interest on the public debt. Musk has repeatedly positioned himself as a candidate for the Council on Government Effectiveness, which reviews public spending.
Musk said the committee will “make sure taxpayers’ money, taxpayers’ hard-earned money, is spent wisely.” “I would be happy to help with a commission like this.” Trump often turned to mundane topics about the cost of living.
Trump responded aggressively, telling Musk he would “love” to have him serve on such a committee. The federal government spent $6.13 trillion in fiscal year 2022.
Musk went on to say that excessive government regulation is another reason for continued inflation. “If you deregulate, like make sensible regulations, then because a lot of the regulations are ridiculous and cause extremely high costs for no reason,” Musk said.
During the interview, Musk and Trump were quite close, joking and complimenting each other.
Musk only recently formally endorsed Trump, doing so immediately after the failed assassination attempt against him last month. Reports have since emerged that Musk is pouring his considerable financial muscle into the former president’s re-election campaign. Musk-backed U.S. political action committees have pledged millions of dollars to support Trump. Musk is reportedly personally involved in some of the PAC’s work, including efforts to elect 800,000 low-propensity voters in various swing states. wall street journal. (Officials in North Carolina and Michigan are investigating political action committees over accusations of improper collection of voter data).
I fully support President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery pic.twitter.com/ZdxkF63EqF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024
Before the past few years, Musk had been relatively uninvolved in politics. Now, he has become one of Silicon Valley’s standard-bearers for Trump. This in itself is somewhat surprising, given that the tech industry has been considered a bastion of Democratic support in the past. While still overwhelming, the emergence of prominent figures from the tech industry endorsing Trump is a new development. In addition to Musk, Trump’s technology supporters include Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Doug Leone ) and venture capitalists such as Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.
Musk’s support for Trump doesn’t exactly mesh with his business interests as the CEO of an electric car company. Trump has often been hostile to electric vehicles. He also mentioned plans to end subsidies for electric vehicles, which would help Tesla’s sales. Though Trump may have changed his tune, recently saying he had “no choice” but to support electric vehicles since Musk endorsed him.
During their joint conversation, Trump praised Tesla as a “great product.”
Musk’s support for Trump has grown over time. 2022, during the debut All-in In the podcast, Musk said he has voted “overwhelmingly” for Democrats in the past. Around that time, his political allegiances began to change. By the 2022 midterm elections, Musk will come out in support of the Republican Party. But he still hasn’t fully warmed to Trump.
“I don’t hate the man,” Elon Musk wrote in a July 2022 social media post, “but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and ride off into the sunset.”
I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and ride off into the sunset.
Democrats should also call off the offensive—don’t let Trump’s only chance of survival be to regain the presidency.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022
In the same social media post, Musk expressed concerns about Trump’s age. “Trump will be 82 at the end of his term, too old to be the CEO of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk wrote.
Trump will be 82 at the end of his term, too old to be the chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America.
If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, DeSantis will win easily — he won’t even have to run.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022
Ironically, it was the same argument that ultimately knocked President Joe Biden out of the race last month. Biden later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who later became the Democratic nominee. Since then, Trump’s huge lead in the polls has been slipping. A recent poll found Harris leading Trump in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
At times, conversations between Musk and Trump have reached near-apocalyptic proportions, as both of them worry about the possibility of world war. “We have a lot of places right now where we could be in World War III,” Trump said.
Musk agreed, highlighting what he saw as the costs. “The risk of global thermonuclear war is over for you,” he said.
A similar tone was struck when discussing the state of the economy.
The interview, heavily promoted by Musk and Trump, is scheduled to take place at 8 p.m. ET on X Spaces, a feature of the app that allows users to host live conversations. However, people cannot join the chat room to listen.
Halfway through the interview, Musk realized that was the case and tweeted that he believed X was under attack. “X appears to have suffered a massive DDOS attack,” Musk wrote in a post on Post a conversation.
𝕏 appears to have suffered a massive DDOS attack. Efforts are underway to close it.
Worst case scenario, we’ll continue with a small live audience and post the conversation later.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
DDOS stands for Distributed Denial of Service and refers to a type of cyber attack that disrupts normal service on a specific website. wealth It was not possible to independently verify whether X was the victim of a cyber attack.
Musk also said that X had tested Spaces with 8 million listeners earlier on Monday.
The technical difficulties Musk encountered during his interview with Trump were reminiscent of similar problems faced by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he launched his Republican primary on the platform in May 2023. Attempting to join X Space caused the website server to crash.
The technical mishap during the interview comes at a difficult time for Trump, who is running his third presidential campaign. He has struggled to maintain a disciplined message, especially while dealing with the rocky launch of his vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. Meanwhile, his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has energized her party’s base since taking over as the Democratic nominee from President Joe Biden. Democratic voters eager to support a candidate other than Biden have rallied behind Harris, greeting her campaign with considerable enthusiasm. A new poll shows Harris surpassing Trump in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where Harris had previously led.
