Musk - Trump interview on X summary: News, quotes and reactions on Twitter
Musk-Trump Interview: Latest Updates
Headlines: Elon Musk interviews Donald Trump
-Technical issues plague interview, forcing Musk to continue with a much smaller audience
- Here's how to watch the interview, which begins at 8 PM ET.
- A look at the growing connections between Silicon Valley and the GOP
- Elon Musk promotes the interview by saying that "no matter is off limits"
- How Elon's endorsement softened Trump's position on electric vehicles
Read more from AS USA:
Musk-Trump conversation features standard Trump lines
Elon Musk’s conversation with Republican presidential candidate Trump began more than 40 minutes late on the billionaire’s social media platform X due to technical issues that prevented users from joining the event.
Musk blamed the delay on a distributed denial of service or DDoS attack, where there is a deliberate attempt to shut down a computer system by flooding it with traffic. His claim of a cyber attack has yet to be verified.
Over two million users tuned in to Trump’s Space, according to the X counter. The interview lasted more than two hours.
The conversation appeared to be free-wheeling, with topics shifting often. The former president spoke from his usual script, featuring a combination of his grievances (about the various criminal and civil charges he faces), claims of the success of his presidency (as well as promises of an idyllic United States if he wins), and personal attacks on President Joe Biden and his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was also much mutual admiration during their chat, with Trump telling Musk, "You're the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike… and you say: 'That's okay, you’re all gone.’"
Musk, who has endorsed Trump’s bid for the presidency, was equally effusive, saying that the U.S. is facing a crossroads, and that Trump was “the right path.”
The conversation has just wrapped up, with a tone of mutual admiration. Trump told Musk he represented the American dream, while Musk said that as the United States faces a fork in the road, the former president was "the right path."
Musk talked about the letter he received from the E.U. warning him about the content of tonight’s event and he commented about how this was censorship, and Trump responded by saying the European Union doesn’t “treat our country well.”
Musk asked what topics they still needed to cover, then Trump spoke briefly about the legal troubles he was facing. He quickly moved to attacking President Biden, saying he was "close to a vegetable state," and that he could barely walk. The two then proceeded to bash Vice President Kamala, with Trump calling her a "radical left lunatic."
Musk begins talking about climate change by saying he has moderate views on the matter, and that the oil and gas industry should not be vilified, and Trump went off to talk about oil deposits in Alaska and how the Biden administration stopped these reserves from being exploited.
Report: X issues not caused by DDOS attack
Elon Musk has blamed the technical issues on a "massive DDoS attack", but tech news website The Verge reports that their sources say that this was not the case.
"The rest of X appears to be working normally, however, and a source at the company confirmed to The Verge that there wasn’t actually a denial-of-service attack. Another X staffer said there was a “99 percent” chance Elon was lying about an attack," according to the site,
Donald Trump says he will build an Iron Dome, like Israel's over the US, as one of the first policy proposals to surface in an interview with Elon Musk.
He must be aware that the US does already have a weapons defense system.
Elon Musk promoted his conversation with presidential candidate Donald Trump that was to be live-streamed on X Spaces on Monday, Aug. 12 at 8 p.m. ET, but technical issues left users unable to join the event.
Musk posted that the social media platform had been a victim of a “massive DDOS attack.”
DDOS stands for “distribution denial-of-service”, and according to tech company Cloudflare, a DDOS attack is “a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.”
Such attacks use multiple compromised computer systems that are connected to the internet to fuel attack traffic.
Read more in our full coverage.
The conversation lacks structure, moving from topic to topic with very little segwaying. After talking about immigration, Donald Trump has moved to attack President Biden, and the Democrats for removing him from the ticket.
Donald Trump says he supports a measure for tips to not be taxed by the federal government. He claims that Kamala Harris is only saying she supports the policy now because Trump does.
Donald Trump says his campaign will return to Butler, PA, the town where he was nearly assassinated in July. The date was not confirmed during the interview.
Elon Musk asks Donald Trump about how the shooter was able to get on the roof and how so many witnesses saw him beforehand. Neither can provide many answers for the significant security failures. Donald Trump is not willing to engage in any talk of a conspiracy.
First topic: The assassination attempt on Donald Trump
The first topic that will be touched upon is the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which occurred just a few short weeks ago. Musk says that Donald Trump's actions were inspiring.
"It was not pleasant," was how the former president responded. He said that it did not feel surreal and that he was able to tell immediately that it was a bullet.
The event is now underway.
Donald Trump was scheduled to speak with Elon Musk on X at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. The event was to be streamed live on X Spaces, but it was unable to begin on time.
The interview was posted on Trump’s account, marking his return to the platform since leaving it in 2021.
The event ran into technical difficulties, with users unable to access the live stream. The site showed that the page was “not available” when they tried to view the event, although it appeared that over 115,000 people were able to join.
Read our full coverage for the link to join and details on the technical issues that have plagued the event.
Elon rejoined the Space after leaving and posting about the technical issues on the platform. Still no one is speaking...
The event appeared to be getting underway, as background noise was heard. The sounds were coming from Donald Trump, who muted himself about 30 seconds in.
The wait continues...
Interview will go ahead with smaller group of listeners
Unable to tackle the technical issues, Musk has announced that he will go through with an interview with a smaller audience than expected, and the video will be posted after.
Musk continues posting as platform fails
In an attempt to explain that the technical issues are the result of a DDOS attack and not a failure on the platform's side, Musk said that a 'Spaces' with 8 million listeners had proved effective. It is possible that more than 8 million viewers from around the world tuned in and are contributing to the problem. X is a private company and will not need to prove that the claims of an attack are true.
Elon Musk blames DDOS attack for Spaces interview failure
X owner Elon Musk, who was set to interview Donald Trump this evening, said that the platform was experiencing a DDOS attack, otherwise known as a denial-of-service attack. A DDOS attack occurs when an attacker blocks the user from a host or network. The platform was overwhelmed by the number of visitors when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis his intention to run for president on X.
Must said that the interview may need to go ahead with a "smaller number of live listeners" and that he will post the full video later.
But for now, the platform is attempting to fix the issues to continue with the original plan.
YouTube link to 'Space' for Musk-Trump interview takes viewers to cryptoscam, say some users
Aaron Rupar, a journalist known for posting clips of Trump speeches, reports that some of the links to a YouTube link to the event were sent to a crypto-scam page. Be careful of the links you click.
Reporter Jonathan Swan remarks on the tech failures
The New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan has posted to X, "I'll take functionality guaranteed," under a post from Musk that reads "Entertainment guaranteed," in a post promoting his interview with Donald Trump. Many users are currently unable to access the 'Space' set up to host the interview.
Concerns of technical troubles plague Spaces link
"Details not available" is what many X users are encountering as they attempt to join the X's 'Space' where Elon Musk is scheduled to interview former President Donald Trump.
The platform had trouble hosting events of this size before. With just a few minutes left until the event is expected to begin, we will see if this event suffers the same fate.
Links on the homepage to the 'Space' also appear to be unable to bring users in.
The link to the Musk-Trump interview now live
Follow the link below to follow the event live. It is scheduled to begin in 5 minutes.
There are concerns that there might be technical issues already as users gather in the 'space.'
A long road...
Donald Trump and Elon Musk's relationship has evolved and improved over the years as Musk has become more publically right-wing and vocal in his support of the former president. However, just a short time ago, Donald Trump was posting on Truth Social about how when Elon visited the White House, he could have told him to "drop to his knees and beg" when he came asking for federal help on what Trump described as his "many subsidized projects." The former president described those projects as "electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, [and] rocketships to nowhere." However, he also said that Musk explained to the former president that he was a big fan of his and a Republican. Since Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump, their relationship has improved, as evidenced by Trump's participation in a live event on a platform that is a major rival of his own, Truth Social.
One advantage Donald Trump has this election cycle as he makes his second attempt for another term in the White House is the support of some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players.
Elon Musk has provided what Donald Trump characterized as a “full-throated endorsement” of his candidacy and will speak with the billionaire on Musk’s platform X on Monday, August 12.
Though Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg has not formally endorsed Donald Trump’s bid for the White House, he has made public statements supporting the former president. Just days before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Zuckerberg said that he would not be formally endorsing either ticket but described Donald Trump’s response to being shot as “badass.”
After explaining that he would not be directly involved in the political process by throwing his full support behind one of the candidates, he described “seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag” as “one of the most badass things [he had] ever seen in my life.”
Read our full coverage for more on how the GOP is making its pitch to leaders in Silicon Valley.
Under an hour until Elon Musk's interview with Donald Trump begins.
Past events of this nature on X have struggled with technical problems as the surge in users overwhelmed servers. We will see how the systems behave tonight.
In a move that has left many perplexed, Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and a prominent advocate for electric vehicles (EVs), has thrown his weight behind Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
This decision comes despite Trump’s well-documented opposition to EVs and his criticism of policies that have supported the growth of the EV industry.
Musk’s support for Trump became evident after the former president narrowly survived an assassination attempt. The Tesla CEO took to social media to express his wishes for Trump’s recovery, marking the first time he has openly endorsed the Republican candidate.
Read more in our full coverage.
In anticipation of his interview with Elon Musk on X, Donald Trump has returned to the platform (at least briefly) to promote the event.
Trump was one of the most followed X (formally Twitter) accounts on the platform, but he was banned after the January 6th attack on the Capitol. When Musk took over, he reinstated Trump's account, but now that he had Truth Social and a strained relationship with Musk, he stayed off X.
One of the posts asks his followers if they are better off now than when he was president. He attacked Democrats on the border and the economy, issues where he feels that he has an advantage. However, Democrats have hit back, reminding Trump that he called on Republican leaders to stop negotiating with their colleagues across the aisle on a border bill because he wanted to run on the issue, and Democrats were willing to include some of the Trump policies (to the dismay of many members of their base).
He has posted a series of videos, including an attack ad on Kamala Harris, another on Biden, and a video from his campaign introducing the Trump-Vance ticket to the voters.
On Monday afternoon, he began posting links for followers to visit his campaign site and join Trump Force 47, which describes itself as "the official army of volunteer neighborhood organizers working together to defeat Kamala Harris and the far-left liberal democrats."
Under EU law, Elon Musk, as the owner of X, is responsible for ensuring misinformation is not spread on his platform. The EU's Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union and French businessman Thierry Breton sent a letter to Musk reminding him of his due diligence responsibilities enshrined in EU law to protect the rights of the block's citizens, who represent a third of all X users. The letter asks for Musk to provide evidence as to how he will protect against the spread of information during the event, which is expected to garner a significant global audience. The Commissionaire ends his letter by noting that he and his team will be "extremely vigilant to any evidence that points to breaches" of EU law, and warned that they "will not hesitate to make full use of our toolbox, including by adopting intern measures, should it be warned to protect EU citizens from harm."
Elon Musk responded with a 'Tropic Thunder'-style meme that reads, "Take a big step back and fuck your own face." In the caption, Musk notes the meme's tone, writing that he "really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible!" In other words, Musk is calling the EU's bluff and pushing them to cancel the event or limit access to X within the block. Such moves would be extremely dramatic and could harm X badly, as it has seen major advertisers leave the platform. Reducing users by a third would mean reducing eyes on the ads that are making it onto the platform and a loss of revenue from X Blue members.
Elon Musk confirms interview with Donald Trump
Though the planning had been made public weeks ago, on Sunday, August 11, X owner Elon Musk confirmed that he would be hosting a Live with former President Donald Trump on Monday night. The event begins at 8 pm ET and will feature a live chat where users can ask questions of the GOP nominee.
Elon Musk is set to interview former President Donald Trump on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in an event that is sure to produce headlines. The interview is scheduled for Monday night, 12 August, at 5 p.m. PT or 8 p.m. ET. The interview will be streamed live on X, allowing viewers to tune in from around the world.
Read more on how to find the virtual event on X in our full coverage.
Hello and welcome to AS USA's live blog covering the Donald Trump interview on X.com hosted by its owner, Elon Musk.
The highly anticipated event will start at 8 PM ET on the X platform and allow viewers to participate and ask questions in a live chat. Musk has stated that "no topics are off limits." The event will likely feature questions about replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, the situation at the US-Mexico border, and the economy. These are all areas where the Trump campaign believes they have an advantage, as Kamala Harris is evening out the race in many critical battleground states.
The interview comes at a critical time for the campaign, as Trump seeks to attract independent voters, a challenge made difficult by his selection of Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. Before President Biden dropped out of the race, the Trump campaign had expected higher rates of abstention by critical factions of the Democratic base and independent voters. The selection of Senator Vance aimed to turn out bigger numbers among Trump's base, but with Kamala Harris stepping into the top spot, turnout is expected to increase, and independent voters are evaluating this new option.
Follow along for the latest on the interview and reactions once it wraps up.