By EFE
13 Aug 2024, 01:35 AM EDT
Former US President and electoral candidate Donald Trump used social media to boost his electoral campaign with a live conversation with tycoon Elon Musk that allowed him to further his criticism of Democrats and the situation in the country.
The highly anticipated meeting started about 45 minutes late, with Musk saying that his platform appeared to have suffered a denial of service attack, known as DDOS, and that they were working to contain it.
“Do I get paid for this?”
X said he had tested his system with eight million simultaneous listeners and the conversation was eventually followed by some 1.3 million people. “Congratulations. I’m getting paid for this?” Trump said, amid the high interest generated.
Musk had promised that his exchange would be unscripted and unrestricted, but he touched on topics that are comfortable for the former president, such as “illegal immigration” which, according to the latter, “saved” his life on July 13, when he was the target of an assassination attempt.
He showed a migration graph on the day of the attack
The attack took place during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A 20-year-old man, later shot dead by police, fired at Trump from a rooftop outside the venue, killing one member of the audience and wounding two others.
Just before being hit in the ear, the conservative former president turned his head to show people a graph that, according to his figures, indicated a significant drop in the number of illegal immigrants arriving during his term in office. “I will always sleep with him,” he joked.
The conversation took place at a time when Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is ahead of Trump in voting intentions. According to the average compiled by the website FiveThirtyEight, she is ahead by 2.8 points with a percentage of 46.1%.
“If you vote for her you should have your head checked,” Trump said, while Musk said that Democrats are “rewriting history” by portraying the Democratic candidate as a “moderate” person.
“You are the path to prosperity for the United States.”
Musk publicly stated last July that he supported Trump in the elections, and he did so despite considering himself a “moderate Democrat.” “But we are really at a critical inflection point for the country. You are the path to prosperity for the United States and Kamala is the opposite,” said the owner of X.
And along those lines, he encouraged voters to also vote for Trump on November 5, a favor that the conservative thanked him for, pointing out that it is an “honor” to have the support of someone he had always placed on the left.
Their exchange lasted two hours in total. An interview without images, but which, with Musk’s support, Trump transformed into a digital rally to launch his usual reproaches to the Democratic side and defend his own legacy.
“The country is going down the drain”
“This is about much more than me or my life. We are going to save this country. The country is going down the drain and these people are evil and liars. They say they are going to strengthen the border and they have been the worst in history,” Trump said before Musk reinforced his position by stressing that the facts “speak for themselves.”
Their conversation came on the same day Trump posted on X again, and the EU reminded Musk that he is not exempt from complying with the law, as it warned him that Brussels is monitoring potential risks in the European Union for the publication of content that incites hatred.
“Rich guys obsessed with themselves”
Just after it ended, Trump stressed in an email that his message to all Americans is that his coming to power will make America rich, safe and great again, after the country’s economy is now “in tatters,” the border is “open” and crime is “out of control.”
Harris and Walz’s team was quick to react after Musk’s interview with Trump.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in the service of people like Elon Musk and himself: self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out to the middle class and who can’t even do a live broadcast in 2024,” they concluded.
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