13 August 2024 A two-hour interview between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was marred by technical difficulties, with a distributed denial-of-service attack reportedly causing delays. The event, which took place on X, a social media platform owned by Musk, drew more than 1.3 million viewers at times.
The difficulties during the interview recalled a similar event that took place in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis experienced a chaotic start to his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform. Musk had written in advance that he would conduct system scaling tests in preparation for the call. Despite the technical difficulties, Trump tried to put a positive spin on it by congratulating Musk on the number of people trying to tune in.
The two men repeatedly exchanged praise during the interview, with Musk praising Trump for his courage and Trump praising Musk for his willingness to fire workers who demanded better conditions. The conversation between Trump and Musk covered several topics, including immigration, the economy and politics. Trump made several incorrect statements, such as claiming that other countries were sending criminals from their prisons across the US southern border, or that bacon prices had risen four or five times.
Musk did not question these claims, allowing Trump to air his usual mix of grievances and personal attacks. Trump also praised Russian Presid.