On his final night on the platform formerly known as Twitter, former US President Donald Trump made a triumphant return to X, rejoining owner Elon Musk in a lively livestream that showcased his signature bombast. The podcast interview on Areas, a platform for seamless and intimate audio conversations, tackled a wide range of topics, including illegal immigration and union-busting. By juxtaposing Trump and Musk, their candidacies highlighted America’s need for a leader capable of inspiring global respect. For two hours, the world’s wealthiest individual and its former President shared striking parallels – outsized self-importance, an affinity for self-aggrandizement through social media, yet concurrently a propensity to portray themselves as victims. Vice President Kamala Harris, a proponent of Venn diagrams, would likely despise the confluence at hand.
While previously suspended after the January 6 incidents, Trump’s ban was lifted upon Elon Musk’s takeover, only to return to Twitter via text-based communication yesterday. In a highly anticipated interview, Elon Musk and Donald Trump engaged in a freewheeling conversation that was supposed to have no limits on subject matter, promising an entertaining experience. However, the discussion largely revolved around familiar topics: the US-Mexico border, crime rates, and – unsurprisingly – the border again. In a latest example of Trump’s propensity to hurl invectives and disseminate misinformation, the interview provided yet another platform for him to spew vitriol with no challenge from his interlocutor – not even when he urged Musk to “drill, baby, drill” in a hypothetical second term.
The livestream was delayed by nearly an hour due to persistent technical issues. Twenty minutes after the scheduled start time, Elon Musk announced that his livestream on X had been targeted by a “huge DDOS assault.” A deliberate DDoS attack seeks to overwhelm a website by flooding it with excessive traffic; an organic surge in viewers would not warrant such a description. Previous events on X had also been plagued by technical issues – as witnessed during the live conversation between Musk and Florida Governor. In a highly anticipated move, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially launched his presidential campaign on August 24, 2023, amidst unprecedented interest from more than half a million viewers. Before discussing the Trump interview, Elon Musk hinted that SpaceX might be undertaking stress tests to ensure a seamless broadcast and handle expected traffic. Professional streamers on YouTube and Twitch have traditionally enjoyed a significant head start, with their most popular counterparts amassing massive audiences early on.
Trump returned to his stake-holding platform, Reality Social, to commend Elon Musk for flagging technical issues that had hindered the livestream’s smooth execution.
“I have a profound disdain for the pretentious information media,” he scribbled. “So unhealthy for our Nation!”
Is Elon Musk a genius or a narcissist?
Trump and Musk have historically had a contentious relationship. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Elon Musk expressed reservations about Donald Trump’s candidacy, describing him as “not the appropriate man” and suggesting that his character didn’t meet the standards expected of a U.S. leader. However, once Trump took office, Musk initially established a cordial relationship with the president and even considered attending an event together. After President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, he swiftly moved
Trump declared at a rally in 2022 that Musk told him he voted for him in 2016, dubbing the billionaire a “friend.” Musk retorted that Trump should “sail into the sunset,” prompting Trump to post on Reality Social that Musk visited the Oval Office seeking help with “all of his many backed initiatives” and may have instructed him to vote.
Two male individuals repeatedly gravitated towards the topic of immigration, consistently emphasizing their conviction that a plague of criminal activity perpetrated by undocumented immigrants is ravaging the country. According to Trump, more than 20 million individuals are alleged to have illegally entered the United States during President Joe Biden’s tenure, significantly surpassing previous levels. He noted that many of these individuals had been released from prisons and psychiatric facilities, describing them as “stone-cold killers” in numerous cases.
Trump and Musk concurred that rampant criminal activity linked to migration is ravaging urban centers such as New York City and San Francisco. New York’s approach to releasing violent offenders has been criticized by Elon Musk, who claims they are simply letting them back onto the streets. “The one person they’re going to prosecute,” the previous president interrupted. Stock prices have plummeted throughout the first half of 2024.
The past has been laid to rest; all that remains is a distant memory. Musk publicly supported Trump in July, shortly after an attempt was made on the former president’s life, and has since been working to mobilize approximately 800,000 people in swing states to cast their ballots in his favor. Recently, reports emerged about the two world leaders engaging in regular phone conversations, discussing pressing issues such as “immigration,” “technology” and “science” multiple times a month.
The two individuals in question, though seemingly disparate, surprisingly share a common perspective on this matter.
Because the conversation drew to a close, Trump commended Musk on his event’s “60 to 70 million” listeners, betraying a misunderstanding of the varying passive views the occasion garnered on YouTube – actually a figure of around one million people. The potential reach of the interview’s diverse perspectives may exceed hundreds of thousands of viewers.
The fleeting moment encapsulated the shared trait of the two men: an innate tendency towards self-promotion. Each has cultivated a reputation by vocalizing grievances, sometimes centered around digital cameras or online platforms, and has leveraged social media to foster a devoted following around their charismatic personas.
Despite being reinstated in November 2022, Trump has largely remained silent on X, opting instead to focus exclusively on Reality Social and other platforms. Though he’s bound by an exclusivity clause restricting non-political content outside Reality Social, this interview appears exempt due to its nature. In the hours leading up to the highly anticipated interview, Donald Trump took to social media platform X to amplify his presidential re-election campaign, prominently featuring a promotional ad at the top of his profile page.
Have your financial circumstances improved since my presidency concluded?
Our financial system is shattered. Our border has been erased. We’re a nation in decline.
Revitalize the All-American Dream to Fit Every Budget Make America SAFE once more. Make America GREAT Once more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Prior to August 12, Trump had not posted on X for almost a full year.
Now, however, Musk and Trump are also bound together by a shared sense of personal injustice and victimhood. President Trump claimed that the Democratic Party had politicized the justice system against him, citing the multitude of criminal inquiries he is currently facing. The former president claimed, “This Biden administration has done something unprecedented in our country – going after their political opponent, namely myself, with unfounded allegations.” In a bygone era, Elon Musk, with uncertain availability, appeared on X to showcase himself and his political views as beacons of resistance against oppression, much like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, or Neo in The Matrix. “When fiction becomes perception,” the image declares. “When confronting harsh realities, you seem unwilling to acknowledge the truth that surrounds you.”
Elon Musk expressed his frustration at being mischaracterized as a far-right individual, citing the irony that he’s dedicated to promoting environmentally friendly electric vehicles. “I stood in line for six hours to shake Obama’s hand when he was president.” Whereas Musk mentioned he used to vote for Democrats, in 2022 he he would begin voting Republican as a result of the Dems had grow to be the celebration of “division & hate.”Prior to now 12 months he has repeated rhetoric echoing the white supremacist , which alleges that there’s a conspiracy to exchange white individuals by bringing into the US. He has consistently displayed a blatant disregard for LGBTQ+ equality, demonstrating a palpable disdain towards individuals who identify as part of this community. Elon Musk’s transgender daughter has publicly criticized him on Instagram’s Threads platform.
During the pandemic, many individuals attributed excessive government spending as the primary driver of inflation. Economists attribute the recent uptick in US inflation to a complex interplay of factors, including supply chain disruptions and an unexpected surge in consumer demand, rather than solely government spending. The CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package, was signed into law by President Trump.
As the conversation on X unfolded, a plethora of peculiar tangents emerged, showcasing the shared sense of disarray between the two males – akin to when Musk broached the topic of “solving traffic” with Trump, who instead praised China’s high-speed rail system, while Musk was actually referring to tunnels for Tesla vehicles. Trump described Harris as a “far-left” politician and reiterated his claim that Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race was a “coup” orchestrated by the Democratic Party. During his re-election campaign, Trump vowed to eliminate the Department of Education, arguing that training responsibilities should be devolved back to state governments during his hypothetical second term. The former President seemingly recognized Musk’s efforts with an award in late 2022. “‘I won’t reveal the company’s identity,’ he said, ‘but they went on strike and you say, “That’s okay, you’re all gone.” After the interview, the United Auto Workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Trump and Musk made “unlawful attempts to threaten and intimidate employees.”
Outside the adversarial setting of an interview, Elon Musk expressed a desire to paint a more nuanced portrait of former President Trump, a figure notorious for his unbridled candor in all interactions. Elon Musk stated it’s draining to gauge someone’s aura if you don’t hear them speak in a conventional manner, adding that the event targeted “open-minded, unbiased voters.” The extent to which attendees were swayed by the energy of Trump and Musk’s presence remains to be seen.
