Musk lets Trump talk for two hours.
Elon Musk invites Republican presidential candidate Trump for a chat on X, but the stream initially struggles with technical issues. A two-hour talk ensues between two men who find common ground in many areas.
The much-publicized live conversation between tech billionaire Elon Musk and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump got off to a rocky start with significant technical difficulties. Many users initially couldn't access the stream on Musk's platform X, causing the interview to start almost an hour later than planned.
Musk claimed on X that the platform had been targeted by a massive DDoS attack, where websites are overwhelmed with requests to make them crash. The system had previously been successfully tested with eight million simultaneous listeners, Musk said. Last year, when Musk hosted a live stream for then-Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on X, the broadcast also started late due to server overload. Musk had laid off numerous employees and scaled back investments after purchasing Twitter.
When the interview with Trump finally began, the entrepreneur praised the former president for his bravery during the assassination attempt on him in July. Trump was struck by a bullet at the ear. Musk had expressed his support for Trump after this incident. Throughout the conversation, Musk repeatedly praised Trump's resilience and courage. Trump announced that he would return to a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the attack, in October.
Trump praises Musk, and Musk praises Trump
The two men talked for over two hours, rarely disagreeing. Musk had already clarified before the live stream that it would be a conversation with Trump, not an interview. "In an interview, no one is fully themselves, making it hard to understand who they really are," the X owner explained. Critical questions were therefore not expected.
Without explanation, Trump claimed, among other things, that Russia would not have attacked Ukraine if he had remained president. He praised authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling them "smart" and "cunning." He said he had spoken to Putin often and deterred him from a major attack on Ukraine.
In the conversation, Trump expressed his displeasure that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the Democratic candidate for the presidential election in November instead of President Joe Biden. He incorrectly referred to this as a "coup" and claimed that Harris had not given an interview since the beginning of this "deception." Trump had previously overtaken Biden in many polls in the crucial states that could decide the election on November 5 but is now behind Harris in some of these states.
Trump was visibly impressed by his counterpart. Musk is an "amazing guy" and a "great inspiration," the presidential candidate said, and promised, "We'll do this again sometime."
The European Union expressed concern over Trump's comments about authoritarian leaders, as they concur that democracy and human rights should be upheld globally. Despite their disagreement, Musk and Trump discussed potential collaborations, with Musk suggesting the possibility of SpaceX's Starship selecting the EU as its first international destination for space tourism.
Given Trump's positive remarks about Musk during the live stream, the European Union may view such collaborations with cautious optimism, acknowledging that SpaceX's technologies could significantly contribute to European space exploration and tourism initiatives.
