Live Conversation Between Elon Musk and Donald Trump: A Bumpy Start
At 8:35 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, a highly anticipated live audio stream on X featuring a discussion between Elon Musk and former President Donald J. Trump began with a significant delay of 35 minutes. When the stream finally flickered to life, it was only for a brief moment. Mr. Trump’s microphone was activated, and a series of shuffling sounds could be heard before it abruptly cut out. Shortly after, Mr. Musk’s account, which had been logged in and prepared for the event, vanished from the conversation entirely.
After a frustrating seven-minute wait, the technical glitches appeared to have been resolved, and the dialogue commenced. The two prominent figures, who have developed a friendship over the years, greeted each other warmly, referring to one another as “Donald” and “Elon.” They engaged in a friendly exchange covering a range of topics, including immigration policies, economic strategies, and critiques of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is anticipated to be the Democratic nominee for the upcoming presidential election. The conversation, which lasted for over two hours, attracted an impressive audience of more than one million listeners simultaneously, according to reports from X.
“I congratulate you,” Mr. Trump remarked to Mr. Musk, acknowledging the livestream’s vast audience. “Do I get paid for this or what?” he joked, showcasing his characteristic humor.
The dialogue between Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump had been promoted as a pivotal moment for the social media platform, which Mr. Musk acquired in 2022. Since then, he has made efforts to encourage Mr. Trump to become active on the site again, after the former president’s ban in 2021. Following Mr. Musk’s intervention, Trump was reinstated, and this event was seen as a chance to re-establish his presence on the platform.
However, the rocky start of the event and the ensuing lighthearted banter served to highlight both the challenges and advantages of X under Mr. Musk’s leadership. The initial technical issues raised renewed concerns about the platform’s capability to handle high-profile events effectively. Without providing substantial evidence to support his claim, Mr. Musk attributed the streaming problems to a “massive” distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, a cyber threat designed to inundate websites with excessive malicious traffic, potentially causing them to go offline.
