In an extended, over two-hour conversation on X Space, Elon Musk appeared to concede to former President Donald Trump on several policy matters that directly impact his businesses, such as energy and climate change.
Trump dominated the dialogue, often speaking with a noticeable lisp and giving Musk little chance to contribute. The conversation began with a discussion of the July assassination attempt on Trump, followed by mutual complaints about an alleged influx of criminals into the U.S., a claim not supported by facts. Trump advocated for policies that conflict with Musk’s business interests, such as increasing U.S. oil drilling and universal adoption of electric vehicles.
“My views on climate change and oil and gas might surprise people—they’re quite moderate,” Musk commented after Trump suggested more U.S. oil drilling. “I don’t think we should demonize the oil and gas industries or the workers who have been crucial in supporting the economy.”
Musk later asked Trump to create a “government efficiency” committee, which Musk would join if Trump were reelected. “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump praised Musk.
The X event faced a nearly 45-minute delay due to technical issues. While Musk attributed the delay to a “massive DDOS” attack targeting the platform, the rest of X seemed unaffected during the event. Despite Musk’s claim, around one million people eventually tuned in, though Trump suggested the number was in the millions.
“A Distributed Denial of Service attack overwhelmed our data lines with hundreds of gigabits of data,” Musk explained at the beginning of the call. “We believe we’ve resolved most of that.”
This isn’t the first time a political X Space has encountered problems. When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign on an X Space last year, the platform struggled with over 660,000 listeners, leading to technical failures. Musk later stated that the platform was stress-tested to handle at least “8 million concurrent listeners.”
Meanwhile, the Kamala Harris campaign used the event to highlight Trump’s disparaging comments about DeSantis’ failed X Space last year, posting on Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social. “The two worst people you know are live this evening,” the Harris campaign wrote in a fundraising email.
Throughout the interview, Trump and Musk criticized Harris, citing debunked conspiracies about her past. Musk, who previously identified as a Democrat, has recently shifted further right. Following the July assassination attempt on Trump, Musk endorsed the former president on X and was rumored to be donating $45 million per month to the pro-Trump super PAC America PAC. However, Musk later denied these reports, stating that his donations would be on a “lower level.”
source: wired
