Harris campaign criticizes Trump-Musk interview as 'self-obsessed'

Former President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk engaged in a friendly conversation on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, though their highly anticipated interview was delayed by over 40 minutes due to technical issues.

According to a report on CNN, the delay represents another setback for Trump’s campaign, which is struggling to regain momentum as the Democratic Party rallies around Vice President Kamala Harris. It also marks the second time Musk faced issues with a high-profile X Space event involving a presidential candidate.

Trump, who returned to X after nearly a year of inactivity, saw his follower count increase by around 900,000 since resuming posts. The discussion allowed Trump to reiterate his campaign messages on immigration and the economy, with Musk posing mostly soft questions and not challenging Trump’s claims.

During the interview, Musk and Trump exchanged mutual praise, with Musk suggesting Trump create a commission on “government efficiency” and offering himself as a potential appointee. Trump responded positively, expressing his appreciation for Musk’s endorsement.

The conversation touched on various topics, including energy policy, climate change, immigration, and federal spending. Trump made unsubstantiated claims about a Democratic coup and criticized President Joe Biden, while his speech was noted for sounding slurred at times.

Technical difficulties during the interview were attributed by Musk to a potential distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack, although it was unclear if the issue was due to external interference or high user traffic.

The troubled start of Trump’s interview echoed the previous technical problems encountered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during his campaign launch event on Twitter Spaces last year. The Harris campaign criticized Trump and Musk as “self-obsessed rich guys” and mocked the delay in their event.

[Information sourced from CNN]