Rambling Trump, Musk interview marred by technical issues
WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sat down with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Monday for a friendly two-hour interview on Musk’s social media platform X, with technical problems 40 minutes into the event. More than delayed.
Musk, who has endorsed Trump, blamed the difficulties on a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut down the network, although his claim was not verified. could not be
Trump tried to turn the issues into a positive, congratulating Musk on the number of people trying to join him.
The technical issues recalled a similar incident at X in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a setback in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform.
At the time, Trump mocked DeSantis on his social media platform, Truth Social. “My red button is bigger, better, stronger, and working (True!),” Trump posted, “Yours is not.”
Before Monday’s event, Musk wrote: “I’m going to do some system scaling tests tonight and tomorrow before the talk.” X did not respond to requests for details or evidence of the alleged cyber attack.
The two men have repeatedly exchanged compliments, with Tesla’s ( TSLA.O ) New Tab chief praising Trump’s bravery during the attack on his life last month, and Trump calling for better conditions for workers. Congratulations to Musk on firing
“You are the biggest dogmatist,” Trump said. “I mean, I see what you do. You come in, you just say: ‘You want to leave?’ They go on strike – I won’t name the company – but they go on strike and you say: ‘That’s right, you all go’.
Musk, the world’s richest man, announced his support for Trump shortly after his assassination attempt, despite the Republican’s opposition to state support for electric carmakers like Tesla. Musk endorsed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has since moved to the right.
“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 on the right path,” Trump said at the end of the interview. Told to
The conversation with Musk gave Trump an unfiltered opportunity to air his usual mix of grievances, personal attacks and exaggerated or false claims.
Musk let Trump lead the conversation and did not challenge Trump’s false statements, such as claims that other countries are sending criminals across the South American border from their prisons, or that bacon prices have quadrupled or quintupled. have increased
Studies show that immigrants, including those in the U.S. illegally, do not commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans.
It was Trump’s latest attempt to gain attention from his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, whose 11th-hour entry into the race galvanized her party and boosted Democratic fundraising.
Harris has dominated headlines with a series of high-energy rallies since replacing Biden as the party’s nominee three weeks ago. Next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago could give his momentum another boost.
In a statement after the interview, Joseph Costello, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said: “Trump’s entire campaign is in the service of Elon Musk and people like himself — self-obsessed rich people who will sell out the middle class and who live stream Can’t run in 2024.”
The former president sounded at several points like he had a lisp, which many listeners noted on X. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment about Trump’s speech.
Harris Momentum
Trump has repeatedly insulted Harris, calling him “third-rate,” “incompetent” and a “radical left-wing lunatic.”
But then he admired her looks.
“She looks like the most beautiful actress ever,” Trump said of Harris’ picture on the cover of Time magazine. “It was a drawing, and actually, she looked like a great First Lady Melania,” he added, referring to his wife Melania Trump.
He also expressed anger that Harris was replaced by Biden on the Democratic ticket.
“He hasn’t done an interview since this whole scam started,” Trump said, falsely claiming that Biden’s abandonment of the ticket was a “coup.”
Trump was leading Biden in many polls in likely battleground states for the Nov. 5 election results, but is now trailing Harris in some of those same states.
A longtime critic of electric vehicles, Trump has shifted gears since endorsing Musk. On Monday, he called Tesla’s electric cars “unbelievable.”
He also 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”.
Trump back on X
Trump returned to X for the first time in a year with a series of posts on Monday, which has served as a key communication method in previous campaigns and includes his four years in the White House. His followers attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Access to Trump’s own account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored for a month under Musk’s X ownership after it was suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the Jan. 6 attack, over concerns Citing that he would incite violence.
Trump posts frequently on his Truth Social platform, which was launched in February 2022, but his posts there reach a much smaller audience than X.
Musk, who has echoed Trump’s false claims about voter fraud and Biden’s immigration policies, launched an outside super PAC spending group to support Trump’s campaign. The political action committee is now under investigation in Michigan for possible violations of state laws related to the collection of voter information.
FOR MORE
Rachel Liss, the voice of popular ‘Pokemon’ characters, has died at the age of 55