Though the August 12 X chat between former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk was delayed for about 30 minutes due to a DDOS attack, the former president and the tech entrepreneur engaged in a lengthy conversation spanning over 3 hours covering the assassination attempt, the border, global tensions, the economy, crime, energy, the future of the country and more.
The discussion garnered over 1 billion views, according to X. At the height of the chat, over 1.3 million people were tuning in live, and over 17 million listened throughout the broadcast.
The assassination attempt
Musk, commenting on the assassination attempt, remarked, “Your actions at the assassination attempt were inspiring. Instead of shying away from things, instead of ducking down, you were pumping your fist in the air and saying ‘fight, fight, fight!’… the President of the United States represents America. And I think that is America. That is strength under fire.”
Musk went on to say it’s one of the big reasons why he made the decision to endorse the former president in the upcoming presidential election.
Immigration
On the issue of the border, Musk asked, “Would it be accurate to say that you are supportive of legal immigration but we obviously need to shut down illegal immigration and especially unvetted illegal immigration?”
Trump replied, “One hundred percent. I say it very simply, they have to come in legally.”
In his remarks on immigration and rising global tensions, Trump lamented, “It’s so sad (what happened on) October 7th, because it should have never happened. It’s so sad what happened when you look at Ukraine, it should have never happened.”
Trump went on to express his concern about criminals entering the US illegally.
“These are rough people. These are criminals that make our criminals look like nice people,” he said.
“Whether it’s a question of intention or competence, either way, we don’t have a secure border,” Musk chimed in. Musk visited the border at Eagle Pass in September, 2023.
Trump wrapped up the discussion on immigration by saying, “We’re going to have the largest deportation in history.”
Global tensions
Musk’s and Trump’s comments about the global landscape circled around the concern that America may not be feared around the world due to the current administration. “A smart president could have stopped (the war in Ukraine), it wouldn’t have happened,” Trump remarked.
Musk chimed in, “Looking at the risk of thermonuclear warfare, it’s game over for humanity. It’s something people have become complacent about.”
The economy
On the economy, Trump emphasized one of the biggest pain points for Americans — inflation.
“Food prices are up 50, 60 — even 100% in some cases,” said Trump. “That’s thing people most care about in my opinion.”
Musk explained, “A lot of people don’t understand where inflation comes from. Inflation comes from government overspending, because the checks never bound when (they’re) written by the government. So if they government spends far more than it brings in, that increases the money supply, and if the money supply increases faster than the rate of goods and services, that’s inflation.”
He highlighted the need to reduce government spending, and pitched the idea for a government efficiency commission that has a goal of reigning in spending and reducing American debt.
“We’re currently adding a trillion dollars to the deficit roughly every 100 days,” said Musk.
When asked if he would agree that the US needs to reduce spending, Trump said, “Yes.”
He pointed to negotiating prices to cut spending and supporting efficient energy production.
Musk offered his help in reigning in government spending so that hard-earned taxpayer money would be used more sensibly, to which Trump replied, “I’d love it.”
“We’ve got to get the prices down,” he said.
Censorship
As the discussion continued to censorship, government regulations and NATO, Musk said, “I think it’s obvious you’re a believer and an advocate of free speech, because during your first term as president, you were attacked relentlessly every day, often very unfairly with false attacks, and you didn’t try to shut down the media, you didn’t try to inhibit their freedom of speech, and I think that says a lot.”
“The beauty is we can have a conversation,” Trump said.
On reviving “The American Dream”
“People want to feel excited and inspired about the future,” said Musk. “They want to feel like the future is going to be better than the past, and that America’s going to do things that are greater than we’ve done in the past, reach new heights, to make you proud to be an American and excited about the future.”
Trump and Musk discussed ideas such as high-speed rail, solving traffic issues with tunnels, and more innovative solutions for medicine.
“They want the American Dream back,” said Trump.
Crime
Going back to crime, Musk commented on what he believes most Americans want from their government.
“We want safe and clean cities, we want secure borders, we want sensible government spending, we want to restore both the perception and reality of respect in the judicial system… and how are those even right wing positions? They’re just common sense,” he said.
Trump replied, “We have to get rid of the criminals that have been given to us by other countries.”
“We have great law enforcement, but they’re not allowed to do their job,” he said.
Musk commented, “It’s obviously demoralizing if you’re a police officer risking your life to arrest violent criminals who could kill you and do kill you sometimes, and then you arrest the violent criminal and then the DA doesn’t prosecute and lets the guy out. Why should a police officer risk their life to arrest a violent felon?”
“We’re going to change that, and we’re going to get them out of the country,” Trump said.
Speaking to the issue of crime in general, Musk commented, “You want to have empathy for people. I totally agree with that… but you also have to have empathy for the victims of the criminals. If you just have empathy for the criminals, it’s actually shallow empathy, it’s not real…. if you don’t incarcerate this person, who are they going to hurt? There’s a lack of empathy for the victims of criminals, and too much empathy for the criminals.”
Musk’s previous political affiliations
Near the close of the interview, Musk wanted to be clear that he was not previously a Republican supporter.
“I’ve not been very political before… they try to paint me as a far right guy, which is absurd because I like to make electric vehicles… I supported Obama. I stool in line for 6 hours to shake Obama’s hand. Historically, I was a moderate Democrat. But now I feel like we’re at a critical juncture for the country. For the people out there in the moderate camp, I think you should support Donald Trump for President.”
Major news outlets reacted to the historic chat on X:
ABC: Trump rehashes familiar talking points on immigrants, Biden in X chat with Musk
CNN: Fact check: Trump made at least 20 false claims in his conversation with Elon Musk
MSNBC: ‘At least he’s consistent’: Brian Tyler Cohen on Elon Musk’s failed X interview with Donald Trump
Listen to the full interview on X here, and the condensed version here.
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