Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk spoke for more than two hours on the social media platform on Monday night (12).
The former US president answered friendly questions that led him to political campaign talking points; at the same time, he criticized current Vice President Kamala Harris’s positions on the economy and immigration.
Technical problems delayed the start
About 15 minutes into the interview, thousands of people trying to join the conversation complained that they couldn’t hear. Musk blamed a hacker attack that overloaded the company’s servers. A “DDoS,” or distributed denial of service attack, is a common attack method in which hackers flood a website with fake traffic to overload its systems and try to shut it down. The live broadcast began at 9:42 p.m. ET.
Trump spoke about the assassination attempt
Trump said he “knew immediately it was a bullet” when a projectile struck his ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month. Musk said part of the reason he decided to support Trump’s presidential bid was his reaction to the attack, saying Trump raising his fists was “incredibly inspiring.”
Trump criticized Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Joe Biden
Trump made several criticisms of Harris during the conversation, including saying that the vice president is trying to be like him with her proposal to end tip taxes and criticizing her handling of the southern border. Trump also blamed President Joe Biden for the inflation crisis and referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as “an anti-Israel, radical leftist person.”
Republican wants to cut the Department of Education
Trump has again declared that he will close the Department of Education if he is reelected, echoing the positions of Republicans who made this closure a priority during the 2024 GOP primaries.
Global warming
Trump has said that “nuclear warming” poses a greater threat than “global warming.” It is unclear what he meant, though he later said that nuclear power “is the greater threat.”
Musk in the Trump administration
Musk has offered to take a role in a potential Trump administration, helping to control government spending. “I would be happy to help with that committee,” he said.
Kamala Harris’s Response
Harris’ campaign appeared to poke fun at the event’s technology issues, reposting comments Trump made last year on Truth Social criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign launch event at X, which was also delayed due to glitches.
“The entire Trump campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who can’t do a live broadcast in the year 2024,” the campaign opined after the live broadcast ended.
Other US presidents and presidential candidates have been shot
Source: CNN Brasil
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