WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump’s much-anticipated interview with Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, finally commenced after more than 40 minutes of technical difficulties, Musk asserted without evidence that the former president’s adversaries had organized an attack on the social media site to silence him. “There’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say,” Musk said. Lately, though, some of those most eager to quiet Trump are those who want to see him back in the Oval Office.
Appearing dazed and flustered by an unfamiliar and fast-changing political landscape, Trump in response has unleashed a torrent of mean-spirited missives, race-baiting insults and conspiratorial broadsides that even close allies and donors acknowledge as unproductive. Some have privately expressed serious concerns that the former president’s recent inability to stay on message has wasted an early opportunity to blunt the momentum of his new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. “Guess what? This is a different race now,” one source close to the former President said.
“The Democrats are energized. They have a massive machine — and she’s raising money, and she can put a coherent argument against him.” “It should be easy,” they added.
“Talk about the economy and talk about immigration.” For Trump, staying on message has rarely been easy, as illustrated by the former president’s return to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, w.