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The interview was initially delayed by technical difficulties, but once it started it became a wide-ranging discussion that covered last month\u2019s assassination attempt against Trump, immigration, foreign policy, and the economy. At points during the interview Trump gave meandering answers, many of which were riddled with falsehoods.<\/p>\n
When discussing the economy, Musk regularly spoke of the runaway government spending that he said led to inflation and the high cost of paying interest on public debt. Several times Musk pitched himself as a candidate to serve on a \u201cgovernment efficiency commission\u201d that would examine public spending.<\/p>\n
The commission in would \u201censure that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers\u2019 hard earned money, is spent in a good way,\u201d Musk said. \u201cAnd I\u2019d be happy to help out on such a commission.\u201d Trump, who often pivoted to his usual talking points about the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump responded favorably, telling Musk he\u2019d \u201clove\u201d to have him on such a committee. The federal government spent $6.13 trillion in fiscal year 2022. Trump then pivoted to his talking points about the cost of living.<\/p>\n
Musk went on to say that excessive government regulation was another reason for persistent inflation. \u201cIf you deregulate, like have sensible regulations, so because lot of the regulations are nonsensical and cause the cost to be extreme for no reason,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n
Over the course of the interview, Musk and Trump were rather chummy, joking and complimenting one another.<\/p>\n
Musk only recently formally endorsed<\/a> Trump, which he did immediately after the failed assassination attempt<\/a> against him last month. Since then reports emerged<\/a> that Musk was throwing his considerable financial weight behind<\/a> the former president\u2019s reelection campaign. The Musk-backed America PAC pledged millions in support of Trump. Musk is reportedly personally involved with parts of the PAC\u2019s work, which includes an effort to turnout 800,000 low propensity voters in various battleground states, according<\/a> to the Wall Street Journal<\/em>. (Officials from North Carolina and Michigan are investigating<\/a> the PAC over allegations it improperly collected voter data).\u00a0<\/p>\n I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery pic.twitter.com\/ZdxkF63EqF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Prior to the last few years, Musk had a relatively little involvement in politics. Now, he stands as one of the standard bearers for Silicon Valley\u2019s support<\/a> of Trump. That in and of itself is somewhat surprising considering the tech industry was in the past considered a bastion of Democratic support. While it\u2019s still overwhelmingly so, the emergence of prominent tech industry figures coming out in support of Trump<\/a> is a somewhat new development<\/a>. In addition to Musk, Trump\u2019s tech supporters include a crop<\/a> of venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Doug Leone, and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s support for Trump doesn\u2019t dovetail neatly with his business interests as the CEO of an electric vehicle company. Trump has regularly been hostile to electric vehicles. He has also mentioned that he plans to end subsidies<\/a> for electric vehicles, which help Tesla\u2019s sales. Although Trump may have changed his tune, saying recently he had \u201cno choice<\/a>\u201d but to support electric vehicles since Musk endorsed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n During their joint conversation, Trump complimented Teslas, calling them a \u201cgreat product.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s support for Trump grew over time. In 2022, during an appearance on the All-In<\/em> podcast, Musk said<\/a> that in the past he had voted \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d for Democrats. Around that time his political allegiances began shifting. By the 2022 midterms Musk would come out in support<\/a> of the Republican Party.\u00a0Yet he still hadn\u2019t warmed to Trump entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t hate the man,\u201d Elon Musk wrote in a social media post in July 2022, \u201cbut it\u2019s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t hate the man, but it\u2019s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.<\/p>\n Dems should also call off the attack \u2013 don\u2019t make it so that Trump\u2019s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the same social media thread Musk expressed concern about Trump\u2019s age. \u201cTrump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,\u201d Musk wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America.<\/p>\n If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win \u2013 he doesn\u2019t even need to campaign.<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ironically, that was the very same argument used to eventually push President Joe Biden out of the race<\/a> last month. Biden then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris who has since become the Democratic nominee. Since then, Trump\u2019s mammoth lead in the polls has been slipping. A recent poll found Harris leading Trump in the critical battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n At times the conversation between Musk and Trump reached near-apocalyptic levels, as they two fretted over the possibility of a world war. \u201cWe have numerous places that could end up in world war three right now,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n Musk agreed, highlighting what he saw as the costs. \u201cThe risk of global thermonuclear warfare it\u2019s game over for you,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n There was a similar tone when discussing the state of the economy. <\/p>\n The interview, which both Musk and Trump had heavily promoted, was set 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 couldn\u2019t join the chatroom to listen in. Users that tried to join the conversation to listen live were instead met with an error screen that told them the Space was \u201cunavailable.\u201d<\/p>\n Midway through the interview, Musk realized this was the case and tweeted that he believed X was being attacked. \u201cThere appears to be a massive DDOS attack on X,\u201d Musk wrote in a post on X. \u201cWorking on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.\u201d <\/p>\n There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on \ud835\udd4f. Working on shutting it down. <\/p>\n Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n DDOS stands for distributed denial of service, referring to a type of cyberattack that disrupts normal service to a certain website. Fortune<\/em> was not able to independently verify if X had been the victim of a cyberattack.<\/p>\n Musk also said that earlier on Monday X had tested Spaces with 8 million listeners. <\/p>\n The technical difficulties with Musk\u2019s Trump interview were reminiscent of similar problems Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis encountered<\/a> when he launched his Republican primary bid on the platform in May 2023. Roughly 500,000 people tried to join the X Space at once, causing the site\u2019s servers to crash. <\/p>\n The technical mishap during the interview come at a difficult time<\/a> for Trump\u2019s presidential campaign, his third overall. He has struggled to maintain a disciplined message, even more so than usual, dealt with a rocky rollout of his vice presidential nominee Ohio Senator JD Vance. Meanwhile his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris has energized her party\u2019s base ever since she took over the role of Democratic nominee from President Joe Biden. Democratic voters eager to rally behind a candidate that wasn\u2019t Biden have rallied behind Harris, greeting her campaign with considerable enthusiasm. A new poll now shows Harris overtaking Trump<\/a> in the critical battleground<\/a> states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, which he had previously led in. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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