TECH NEWS – On Monday, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump participated in a casual two-hour interview with billionaire Elon Musk on Musk’s social media platform, X. The event faced a delay of over 40 minutes due to technical issues, which Musk attributed to a cyberattack. Despite the hiccups, the interview attracted more than 1.3 million listeners. Musk began with questions about an assassination attempt, while Trump complimented Vice President Harris, saying she ‘looks like the most beautiful actress.’

Musk, who has publicly endorsed Trump, claimed the technical problems were caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, where servers are overwhelmed with traffic to disrupt service. However, this claim remains unverified. Trump attempted to spin the delay positively, praising Musk for the high number of viewers trying to tune in. The platform’s counter showed up to 1.3 million listeners at peak times during the lengthy conversation.

The technical difficulties echoed a similar incident on X in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis experienced a rough start to his campaign launch due to glitches on the platform. Trump had mocked DeSantis on his own platform, Truth Social, saying, ‘My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!). Yours does not.’

Prior to Monday’s event, Musk mentioned he would conduct system scaling tests in preparation for the discussion. X did not provide further details or evidence of the alleged cyberattack.

Throughout the conversation, the two men exchanged compliments. Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), praised Trump for his courage during a recent assassination attempt, while Trump lauded Musk’s decisiveness in dealing with workers who demanded better conditions.

‘You’re the greatest at cutting,’ Trump said. ‘I mean, I watch what you do. You walk in and just say: “You want to quit?” They go on strike—I won’t name the company—but they strike, and you just say: “That’s fine, you’re all fired.”‘

Musk, currently the richest person in the world, declared his support for Trump shortly after the assassination attempt, despite Trump’s opposition to government support for electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla. Musk had supported Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has since shifted to the right.

‘I believe we’re at a crucial point in civilization, and I think we need to choose the right path. I believe you’re the right path,’ Musk told Trump as the interview wrapped up.

The conversation gave Trump an unfiltered platform to express his usual grievances, personal attacks, and exaggerated or false claims. Musk allowed Trump to steer the dialogue and did not challenge any of Trump’s inaccurate statements, such as the claim that other countries were sending criminals across the U.S. southern border, or that bacon prices had increased four or five times. Research indicates that immigrants, including those in the U.S. illegally, do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.

This interview was Trump’s latest attempt to overshadow his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, whose last-minute entry into the race has energized her party and boosted fundraising efforts. Harris has captured headlines with a series of high-energy rallies since she replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate three weeks ago. Her momentum could receive another boost from the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week.

In response to the interview, Harris campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said: ‘Trump’s entire campaign is about serving people like Elon Musk and himself—self-absorbed rich men who will sell out the middle class and can’t even manage a livestream in 2024.’ Many listeners on X also noted that Trump appeared to have a slight lisp during the interview. The Trump campaign did not comment on this observation.

Source: CNBC