Trump and Musk are chatting and lying to each other almost to the point of Nirvana.
Immigrants like a "zombie apocalypse", a "very low IQ" in US President Biden, and "nuclear warming" as a greater threat than climate change. That's how Donald Trump and Elon Musk chatted, lied, and praised each other for over two hours in a live audio stream on X.
How can anyone endure this? Elon Musk, one of the world's richest men, and Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, spent over two hours live chatting in an audio livestream on X. That's a neutral description, but more accurate would be: Two of the world's most famous men suddenly became podcast bros, boosting each other, praising, telling lies, exaggerating, and warning of the downfall of the United States if Kamala Harris and the Democrats win the presidential election in November.
But before all that happens, the so-called tech billionaire and Tesla founder, who bought Twitter and renamed it X, has to deal with technical issues: The stream isn't working. According to Musk, the broadcast started much later than planned due to a "massive" DDoS attack. "There's a lot of resistance to what Trump wants to say," says the billionaire, and Trump immediately presents himself as an innocent victim: "Frequently, it's those who have something constructive to say!"
The fact that Trump is active on X again after almost a year is remarkable. They'll talk about the attack, at length about immigration via the southern border, inflation, and security; Trump pats himself on the back constantly, and Musk laughs nervously, interrupts the former president, eager to share his own views. This wasn't supposed to be an interview, Musk had announced, but a conversation. But it doesn't sound like that most of the time, just someone who doesn't always know when it's disruptive to say something about themselves.
"Zombie apocalypse" at the southern border
They start with Trump's new favorite topic, the attack. "Illegal immigration saved my life," says Trump, referring to a graph about the topic before he was shot. Musk finds this possibly unintended cynicism amusing: "Oh, that's so good!" Trump has repeatedly announced that he would deport millions of people if he became president.
Musk spins a tale of people "pouring over the border," which sometimes looks like a "World War Zombie Apocalypse." In four years, "we won't have a country left." Trump counters with: "60 million people from all over the world" would come to the US. Musk adds, "It's not possible to take in everyone from all over the world," letting loose a typical right-wing exaggeration. We're already being overwhelmed, Trump adds. He repeats the lie that other countries release their criminals and send them to the US, where they now run amok.
With him, on the other hand, it's all gold, as Trump describes it, and Musk doesn't disagree, quite the contrary. "People like Kim Jong Un respond to strength, not weakness," he says about North Korea's dictator, as Trump outlines how he would personally resolve all international crises at a stroke. They wouldn't even happen if he had continued to govern after 2020. But the election winner was Joe Biden, whom Trump now describes as having a "very low IQ," which "might not even exist. There's no scale that goes that low." Kamala Harris is even worse, and it was a "coup" against Biden. He is now "close to the state of vegetables." Trump once reminds of the TV debate against Biden. "I - DEFEATED - BIDEN", he says, raising his voice.
Because of Biden, everything is bad in the USA, Trump complains, a disaster; the economy, inflation, prices. He claims that food is "50, 60, even 100 percent" more expensive, which is not true - it's an average of 20 percent higher since the beginning of 2021. Musk interjects that the government is to blame for spending so much money, and repeatedly suggests a "government efficiency commission," which is unintentionally funny. He offers Trump his help in wielding the budget axe, which Trump finds a "fantastic idea": "That's great, you're the best budget-cutter!" He praises Musk for how he simply fires strike-prone employees.
A small verbal excursion to South America also takes place, with Trump and Musk agreeing on how well budget cuts in the public sector in Argentina under MAGA fan Javier Milei would have worked and how prosperity would return. However, this is made up; while inflation is lower there, the economy is struggling, pensions have been cut, and poverty rates are now over 50 percent.
Climate change and energy policy are also topics for the two. Trump talks about "nuclear warming" due to nuclear power, but doesn't explain what he means. He does say it's the "greatest danger," more dangerous than climate change due to oil and gas. Musk positions himself as being in favor of gradually transitioning to sustainable energies, especially solar. This can be achieved in "50 to 100 years" before people start having breathing problems due to high carbon dioxide levels. "It'll be okay," he says. But oil and gas can still be used. It's the only moment in the conversation where the two don't see eye to eye.
Musk slips in some advertising for his Tesla electric cars, praising himself for the "most expensive joke in the world" because four different models of his brand (S, 3, X, and Y) spell out the word "sexy"; which makes Trump laugh. And so it goes on and on. Kamala Harris is insulted, and her vice, Tim Walz, also gets his share. According to Trump, the EU is exploiting the USA, he mentions fantasy figures for Ukraine aid, stokes fear of a possible third world war, and immigration and crime are all bad, bad, bad. The solution? "We need a man who is incredibly sharp," Trump says. Who he means is clear: himself.
This conversation between Musk and Trump veers towards the US presidential election of 2024, with Trump expressing his disdain for President Biden's alleged low IQ and his belief that a Harris-Democrat win would lead to the downfall of the country. Musk, on the other hand, mentions the importance of handling immigration carefully, avoiding a "World War Zombie Apocalypse" scenario.
