Elon Musk’s highly anticipated conversation with Donald Trump on his platform X was disrupted by technical difficulties. The discussion, which focused on topics like immigration and inflation, started over 40 minutes late, preventing many users from joining. While the event was promoted as an interview, Trump made several unverified statements without facing any pushback. Musk reiterated his support for Trump, who is contending with a revitalized Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, ahead of the upcoming election. Musk attributed the technical issues to a cyber-attack, but experts suggested that this was unlikely.
As Trump attempts to rejuvenate his re-election campaign, the entry of Harris as a candidate, following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal, has intensified the competition for the presidency. Musk has become an increasingly prominent figure in political discussions and has recently aligned himself with a new political committee supporting Trump’s bid. During their conversation, Musk stated, “America is at a fork in the road and you are the path to prosperity and I think Kamala is the opposite.” The two discussed a variety of subjects, including the recent assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, the need for the U.S. to adopt an “Iron Dome” missile defense system similar to Israel’s, and Trump’s proposals on immigration. Trump also contemplated abolishing the federal Department of Education and returning its responsibilities to individual states if he wins in November.
The dynamic between Musk and Trump has evolved, characterized by past online exchanges that included criticism. However, their Monday interaction was notably amicable, featuring mutual compliments. Trump, who has shown skepticism towards electric vehicles and previously expressed intentions to cut federal subsidies, praised Tesla, the company owned by Musk, and admitted to having “no choice” but to support electric vehicles due to Musk’s influence.
Despite the friendly atmosphere, the broadcast got off to a rocky start. Many viewers encountered difficulty accessing the livestream, which Musk blamed on a “massive DDoS attack” on X. DDoS attacks are aimed at overwhelming a website to disrupt its service. Expert opinions varied, with one suggesting a high volume of users might have caused the temporary outage rather than an actual cyber-attack.
The event marked a significant moment for Trump, who had been banned from X shortly after the January 6 Capitol unrest. Although he had previously posted a mug shot and a link to his campaign site after Musk reinstated his account in 2022, he had not engaged with the platform extensively since then. It remains uncertain if Trump, who often shares content on his Truth Social platform, will increase his activity on X moving forward.