Former President Donald Trump returned to X on Monday evening with an interview with Elon Musk, chairman of the social media platform. It started with a bumpy rollout that featured delays, preventing the event from beginning on time.
Eventually, after more than 40 minutes, the interview started with more than 1.3 million listening to the conversation between the two men.
During the conversation, Trump described the failed assassination attempt against his life last month as “not pleasant.” Trump had previously claimed that he would stay away from discussing the traumatic attack.
Vice President Kamala Harris was also frequently brought up by Trump as a “border czar,” which the White House has rejected as a title. Trump also spent some time during the two-hour conversation discussing foreign policy, including some of America’s toughest adversaries.
Here are the top takeaways from the live interview.
Musk claims cyberattack delayed the event as Harris campaign pokes fun
The X interview with Trump was plagued with technology difficulties, with some users allowed to enter the event and others met with an image saying that the space was not available.
Musk claimed “a massive DDOS attack on X” was responsible for the delays before updating users that the event would go on with a smaller number of listeners and that the audio would be posted immediately afterward. The event didn’t start until 42 minutes after the 8 p.m. Eastern start time.
There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on . Working on shutting it down.
Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
However, a source told the Verge that a DDOS attack had not hit X, and another source said there was a “99 percent” chance that Musk was lying.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a one-time presidential rival to Trump, also faced technical problems that delayed his presidential campaign launch on Twitter in 2023. Trump and his allies harshly criticized DeSantis’s campaign for the rollout, which users on X were quick to point out.
Trump tried to spin the botched start as a positive for Musk. “Congratulations because I see you broke every record in the book,” Trump said. “We view that as an honor.”
A Harris campaign spokesman, Ammar Moussa, taunted the Trump campaign by stating: “Getting some real Ron DeSantis flashbacks.”
The Harris campaign reposted an old Trump post mocking DeSantis’s botched Twitter Spaces event on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform.
“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social, which the Harris campaign shared. “WATCH!”
After the event was successfully relaunched, it continued without a problem. However, some X users were quick to comment that Trump sounded off at times during the interview, with many claiming he sounded as if he was speaking with a lisp. Kamala HQ, a campaign account for Harris, also amplified the speculation, saying he was “slurring” in a post on X.
However, Trump’s campaign dismissed the claims, according to the Daily Beast.
“Must be your ears,” the Trump campaign said.
Trump recounts failed assassination attempt
The former president gave another extended account of that nearly fatal event in Butler, Pennsylvania, that would lead Musk to endorse him a few days later. Trump called the moment “surreal” and claimed that his faith had grown deeper due to his survival.
“The bigger miracle was that I was looking in the exact direction of the shooter, and so it hit, it hit me at an angle that was far less than any other angle,” Trump recounted. “So, that was the miracle, that was for those people who believe in God. I think we got to all start thinking about that, you have to, you know, I’m a believer. Now, I’m more of a believer, I think.”
Trump also praised the doctors who treated him as “incredible” and claimed it took “courage” for Secret Service officers to cover him after a bullet flew by his ear, nearly hitting him.
“It was a miracle. If I hadn’t turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now, as much as I like you,” Trump told Musk later on.
Trump said he would return to Butler in October in a defiant gesture toward the attempt on his life.
Trump slams Harris for ‘border czar’ role
The former president reprised a familiar line of attack against Harris by repeatedly referring to her as a “liar” for rejecting the term “border czar,” which Democrats have claimed was never her title. In March 2021, Biden tapped Harris as head of an effort to handle the migration crisis at the southern border and address its root cause.
“In fact, I think most people who are illegal immigrants are actually good, but you can’t tell the difference unless there’s a solid vetting of who comes across the border,” Musk said. “Is that? Does that represent your position?”
“I say it very simply. They have to come in legally,” Trump said. “Because, look, Kamala was the border czar. Now, she’s denying it.”
The Harris campaign released a new ad on immigration this week claiming she would be “tougher” on border control. Trump dismissed the ad in his conversation with Musk.
“And I saw an ad just before I got on the air. I’m walking over here, and I saw an ad by Kamala saying how she is going to provide border security,” Trump said. “Where has she been for 3 1/2 years? For 3 1/2 years?”
The former president also needled Harris for her lack of questioning from the press since she became the Democratic nominee for president. “Kamala wouldn’t have this conversation,” Trump said. “Kamala can’t because she’s not too smart.”
Later in the interview, Trump claimed that Harris’s cover feature on Time magazine reminded him of his wife, Melania.
Trump recounts anecdote with Putin over Ukraine
Trump has repeatedly warned that World War III could explode if international crises aren’t resolved. In an anecdote told to Musk, Trump detailed a conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he warned him not to invade Ukraine.
“I know Putin very well. I got along with him very well. He respected me,” Trump said. “And it’s just one of those things. And … we would talk a lot about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But I said, ‘Don’t ever do it. Don’t ever do it.’”
In another anecdote, Trump told Putin: “I said, ‘Don’t do it. You can’t do it, Vladimir. You do it, it’s going to be a bad day. You cannot do it.’”
“He said, ‘No way.’ And I said, ‘Way,’” Trump recounted.
Putin wasn’t the only world leader with questionable ethics Trump praised. “I know Putin. I know President Xi. I know Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I know every one of them,” Trump said. “And let me tell you, people say, ‘Oh, this is terrible.’ … I’m not saying anything good or bad. They’re at the top of their game, they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country.”
Trump said that Kim Jong Un, aka “rocket man,” according to the former president, told him he had a red button on his desk.
“I said I have a red button on my desk, too, but my red button is much bigger, and my red button works,” Trump said.
Trump Iron Dome pledge
If reelected to a second term, Trump promised to build an Iron Dome system in the United States comparable to Israel’s Iron Dome.
The Iron Dome is a missile defense system that Israel created in 2006 in the aftermath of the conflict with Hezbollah. It can protect against incoming short-range weapons, but building one to protect the U.S. is not practical due to high costs, experts have warned.
“One of the things we’re going to do is we’re going to build an Iron Dome over us. You know Israel has it. We’re going to have the best Iron Dome in the world,” Trump said. “We need it, and we’re going to make it all in the United States. We’re going to have protection because it just takes one maniac to start something.”
