A look back at that Donald Trump and Elon Musk interview

The recent conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on the social network X, presented by Trump as a historic event, turned out to be a complete disaster for the former president’s election campaign.

While Elon Musk suspiciously invoked “a DDoS attack” on X to justify being more than 45 minutes behind schedule, Trump’s incoherent speech, punctuated by serious speech problems, his inappropriate comments on Kamala Harris’s beauty, and his nebulous assertions about a possible flight to Venezuela in the event of electoral defeat, contributed to the monumental failure of this interview, exacerbating the disorder of a campaign already in crisis for the former president.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s two-hour interview with billionaire Elon Musk on X got off to a delayed start after more than half an hour of technical problems https://t.co/k9s4CEWahD pic.twitter.com/Tkd4yxrhdL

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 13, 2024

One might think that Donald Trump’s campaign couldn’t be in more trouble after the withdrawal of Joe Biden and the meteoric rise of Kamala Harris, his new opponent.

However, the conversation between Trump and Musk on X, initially billed as a highlight for his re-election campaign, turned out to be a further disaster for the former president.

Monday night’s event had been billed as an opportunity for Trump to discuss crucial issues in front of a large online audience. However, the experience turned into a veritable nightmare, both technically – evoking the failed launch of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign on this very platform – and in terms of the interview itself, during which Trump physically seemed to struggle to express himself normally.

From the outset, the livestream on X was marred by major technical problems, preventing many users from accessing the interview for over 45 minutes.

The chaos was quickly mocked and criticized on social networks, sparking anger and frustration. Elon Musk attributed these malfunctions to “a DDoS cyber attack” targeting the platform.

However, this explanation was greeted with skepticism by many, who pointed out that such a forward would probably have had repercussions on the entire X platform, not just the livestream.

Once the “technical problems” had been resolved, the interview between the two billionaires began. Trump encountered serious speech difficulties, as he discussed his experience on his assassination attempt and his usual topics. His communication problems led some listeners to compare him to “Daffy Duck”.

Afterwards, Trump made an odd remark when referring to Kamala Harris’s beauty on the TIME cover, comparing her to that of his wife, former first lady Melania Trump.

Donald Trump Says Kamala Harris’ TIME Cover Reminds Him of Melania, Looks Like ‘Most Beautiful Actress to Ever Live’ https://t.co/mlc88JAPxN

— People (@people) August 13, 2024

During this strange, rather one-sided conversation with Elon Musk, the former president also said he wanted to move to Venezuela if he lost the election, arguing that Venezuela would be much safer than the USA.

He insisted to Musk that the next time they met, it would be in Venezuela.

Clearly, this is not a good moment in history for the two men.