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Washington:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s interview with billionaire businessman Elon Musk finally began on Musk’s X social media platform on Monday night, after a long delay caused by technical issues that prevented many users from accessing the live stream.
Musk, who supported Trump, kicked off the event at 8:42 pm (00:42 GMT Tuesday), more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time. He attributed the difficulties to a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down, although his claim has not been confirmed.
More than 1.3 million people listened to the conversation for about 45 minutes, according to an accountant at X.
Trump sought to turn the problems into positives, congratulating Musk on how many people tried to tune in.
The former president sometimes appeared to have a lisp, many X listeners pointed out. Some said it made him sound like a cartoon character, others suggested it could be due to audio compression issues.
The technical issues were reminiscent of a similar event on X in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to platform glitches.
At the time, Trump mocked DeSantis on his own social media platform, Truth Social. “My red button is bigger, better, stronger and working (TRUE!)” Trump posted: “Not yours.”
Before Monday’s event, Musk had written: “I’ll do some system scaling testing tonight and tomorrow before the talk.” X did not respond to requests for details or evidence of the alleged cyber attack.
Musk spent much of the beginning of the interview praising Trump for his bravery during the attempt on his life on July 13, when his ear was struck by a bullet.
Musk, the world’s richest person, announced his support for Trump shortly after the shooting. He supported Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has since shifted to the right.
Trump has said he plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the attack, for a rally in October.
As the conversation unfolded, Trump delivered his usual mix of complaints, exaggerated claims and personal attacks, with Musk offering occasional encouragement.
Trump claimed without evidence that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still president and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – all authoritarian strongmen – as being “on top of your game”.
He also expressed anger that Vice President Kamala Harris was swapped for Biden on the Democratic ticket.
“She hasn’t given one interview since this whole scam started,” Trump said, falsely claiming that Biden’s handover of the ticket was a “scam.” Trump had been leading Biden in many polls in swing states that would likely be critical to the outcome of the Nov. 5 election, but is now trailing Harris in some of the same states.
In an interview that lacked political details, Trump also appeared to praise Musk for laying off workers.
“You’re the best cutter. I mean, I see what you do. You come in and just say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ They go on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they go on strike and you say, ‘Okay, you’re gone.’”
TRUMP BACK ON
The interview provided Trump with an opportunity to gain prominence at a time when his campaign faces new headwinds.
Harris has erased Trump’s lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of energetic rallies since replacing Biden as the party’s nominee three weeks ago. His momentum could receive another boost at the Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago.
Trump returned to the attack by his followers on January 6, 2021 on the US Capitol.
Trump’s access to his account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored a month after Musk took over X, after it was suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the Jan. 6 attack, citing concerns that he would incite violence.
Trump posts frequently on his Truth Social platform, which launched in February 2022, but his posts there reach a much smaller audience than on X.
MUSK SUPPORTS TRUMP
Musk, who runs electric car company Tesla, repeated Trump’s false claims about voter fraud and Biden’s immigration policies.
Musk started 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 regarding the collection of voter information.
Trump, a longtime critic of electric vehicles, changed tack after Musk’s endorsement.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon strongly supported me. So I have no choice,” Trump said at a rally in early August.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, campaigning in support of Harris, called Trump a “sellout.”
The Biden administration has been working to popularize electric vehicles through tax incentives and other support as part of its broader goal of reducing carbon emissions attributed to climate change.
Republicans in Congress, including Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, opposed these subsidies.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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