Technical problems plague Donald Trump and Elon Musk X-Interview
X owner Elon Musk said the technical problems were caused by a cyberattack, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Choosing the five craziest things about Elon Musk’s “interview” with Donald Trump at X on Monday is difficult because there are so many candidates.
Let’s start with the fact that it existed at all. X, formerly known as Twitter, has degenerated into a safe haven for vile toxicity of all kinds since Musk took over (in that respect, it makes perfect sense to do the interview there). But it doesn’t have the reach or, obviously, the technical reliability of old-fashioned platforms like television or podcasts.
There’s a kind of good old boys’ club vibe going on between Musk, who has publicly supported Trump, and the former president telling each other how great they are. If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, then your instincts are good. Of the many notable things that happened during the interview, these were the five wildest, and they don’t even include Trump’s statement that drawing Vice President Kamala Harris on the cover of Time magazine made her look like “the most beautiful actress ever” and her comparison to his wife Melania. Weird.
Trump and Musk had trouble getting started with X
The talk—Musk rightly called it that—started with a whimper, not a bang, as technical glitches delayed the start by 42 minutes. Many people couldn’t get in, and those who could listen to music. Musk claimed a denial-of-service attack was responsible, though Verge reported that wasn’t true. For many, it was reminiscent of the glitchy launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign last year. “This massive attack shows there’s a lot of resistance to people simply hearing what President Trump has to say,” Musk said.
Musk’s questions sounded more like hero worship
Of course, Musk is free to support any candidate he chooses. But the phrasing of his “questions” on Monday (often just statements of his own beliefs that Trump could either agree with or use to turn the conversation on himself) made him sound like a sycophant. And who knows, maybe he is. He praised Trump’s defiant pose after surviving an assassination attempt, saying, “That’s America. That’s strength under fire.” He called Trump “incredibly inspiring.” He said, “I think we’re in massive trouble with a Kamala (Harris) administration. I think it’s imperative for the good of the country that you win this election.” I think he likes him.
Trump and Musk praised despots like Putin and Kim Jong Un
In one of those weird twists that you could hardly believe actually happened, Trump and Musk praised people like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Trump said, “They’re at their best – they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country.” But they’re also murderous dictators who oppress their own people. Maybe they could have taken a little more time on that.
Musk is determined to play the tough guy
Musk – who, you’ll recall, challenged Facebook CEO Jeff Zuckerberg to a real fight – seemed obsessed with the idea of a president who puts up a tough front. In his and Trump’s minds, that’s clearly not Harris. Want to guess who they think would be tough? “Is the American president intimidating or not and how important is that to American security,” Musk once said. “Bro culture” at its finest.
Did Trump malign words?
Normally, this wouldn’t be worth mentioning. What Trump says is remarkable enough without talking about how he says it. But social media immediately became obsessed with how Trump spoke. In fact, he sounded like he had suddenly developed a lisp we’d never heard before. It could be due to sound compression or some other technical issue, some wrote. SV Dáte, a White House correspondent for the Huffington Post, said he reached out to Trump’s campaign about it and tweeted that he received the following response: “It must be due to your crappy hearing. Get your ears checked.”
Musk’s “interview” with Trump: An embarrassing catastrophe
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