Anika Begay
In this 2020 file photo, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talks with then-President Donald Trump, May 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
A highly publicized interview between former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk got off to a late start on Monday, after a lengthy technical delay that both men explained, without evidence, as an attempt to silence them.
The conversation didn’t start well. While people tried to tune in, many couldn’t, with one message saying that the Spaces audio feed was down. It eventually started about 40 minutes later than advertised. Musk blamed a hack, but offered no evidence to support that, and the rest of the website appeared to be working normally.
The hiccups were reminiscent of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s failed campaign on X, then known as Twitter, last year, which was plagued by technical problems and ended abruptly after 20 minutes.
On Monday, Musk, who has supported Trump, kicked off the interview by seemingly acknowledging that his questions wouldn’t pressure the former president: “No one is really themselves in an adversarial interview,” Musk said. “It’s hard to get a vibe about someone if you don’t hear them speak normally.”
They spent the first 20 minutes discussing the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Musk’s support for Trump was clearly visible.
Musk praised Trump for standing up and raising his fist after being hit.
“I think a lot of people admire your courage under attack,” Musk added.
The two men then moved on to a topic they agree on: illegal immigration and what they see as the Biden administration’s failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
It was Trump’s first major reappearance on X, formerly known as Twitter, since Musk reinstated his account after purchasing the platform in late 2022.
Twitter banned the former president after his supporters rioted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, saying Trump’s posts violated its rules against glorifying violence. Since then, Trump has spent most of his time online posting on his social network, Truth Social.
The former president has stepped up his online outreach in an effort to regain attention after Democrats’ decision to replace Vice President Kamala Harris with their running mate.
Monday’s interview was the most visible example yet of Musk’s increasingly open embrace of right-wing politics. He supported Trump in July after the former president’s assassination attempt. Musk’s close allies have formed a super PAC supporting Trump, which is expected to pour millions of dollars into Trump’s reelection campaign.
This is an evolving story and will be updated.
