Donald Trump, Elon Musk interview on X: Internet erupts as X platform displays ‘details not available’ screen

Donald Trump ran through his checklist of conspiracy theories this morning in a rambling conversation with his uber-wealthy supporter Elon Musk that was initially derailed by what the tech titan said was a technical glitch.

In a very one-sided conversation on Mr Musk’s social media platform X, Mr Trump vented about a “zombie apocalypse” of immigration, repeatedly blasted US President Joe Biden as “stupid”, and mused about developing a new missile defence system based on the one that defends Israel.

The Republican presidential candidate also dismissed climate change, whose sea-level rises he said would simply create more real estate opportunities. “The biggest threat is not global warming, where the ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years,” he told Mr Musk in the conversation that lasted nearly two hours.

“You’ll have more ocean-front property, right? The biggest threat is not that. The biggest threat is nuclear warming, because we have five countries now that have significant nuclear power, and we have to not allow anything to happen with stupid people like Biden.”

What was billed as a “no limits” conversation between the two started more than 30 minutes late, with many of those logging on unable to listen in live.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man according to Forbes, claimed the platform formerly known as Twitter had experienced a “cyberattack”.

The conversation was intended to help reinvigorate Mr Trump’s stuttering campaign, which has flagged since Mr Biden dropped out of the race, to be replaced by a surging Kamala Harris, his Vice-President.

The young men who view Mr Musk as a hero are a prized target for Mr Trump, whose following tends to skew older.

More than a million users listened in live to the conversation on X. Mr Musk, who has said he previously voted Democrat, has thrown his weight — and his wealth — behind Mr Trump since a gunman tried to assassinate the Republican at a rally last month.

Mr Musk started by asking about the assassination attempt.

“There was blood. Lots of blood. I didn’t know I had that much blood,” the former US president said.

“I knew immediately it was a bullet. In this case, it was the best alternative you could possibly think about,” referring to the bullet hitting his ear instead of his head.

“It was (a) hard hit.”

Astounded by the story, Mr Musk replied: ”You would have been dead if you didn’t turn your head.”

“It’s a miracle,” Mr Trump said.

“If I didn’t turn my head I wouldn’t be talking to you now. As much as I like you,” he joked.

The apparent technical difficulties come after Mr Musk fired hundreds of staff at the platform, and also served as an uncomfortable reminder that the Tesla boss had once backed Mr Trump’s rival Ron DeSantis, whose campaign launch on the platform was also beset by problems.

When things finally got under way, Mr Musk said the “massive attack illustrates there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say”.

Mr Trump was banned from Twitter after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, but Mr Musk reinstated him when he took the platform over and renamed it. The South African-born billionaire has emerged as a major voice in US politics, but is accused of turning X into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories.

He is one of the Democrats’ fiercest critics, leveraging his 194 million-strong following on X to assail liberal efforts to boost diversity and inclusion — what he calls the “woke mind virus”— and the White House’s handling of the southern border.

“We have people streaming over,” Mr Musk told Mr Trump, likening the border to the “zombie apocalypse” depicted in the film World War Z.

“It’s just not possible for the United States to absorb, you know, everyone from Earth,” said Mr Musk, identifying himself as a “legal immigrant”.

Mr Musk asked Mr Trump if it was correct that he supported legal immigration.

“I say it very simply, they have to come in legally, they have to be checked,” Mr Trump responded. Mr Musk echoed his support for legal immigration. “Who do you want on the team,” Mr Musk said.

“Most of the illegal immigrants are good people.”

Mr Trump wrapped up the topic by stating his intention if re-elected in November.

“We are going to have the largest deportation,” Mr Trump said.

He boasted about his relationship with autocrats such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, and insisted the US would be safer under his stewardship.

“Four years ago we (United States) were so respected,” he said. “I could say to Putin, don’t do it, it’s going to be a bad day. If you have a smart president, a president that gets it, we are not in danger from those countries. These are powerful countries. Very powerful nuclear.

“We have numerous places that could end up as World War III right now and we have no reason.

“One of the things we’re going to do is we’re going to build an Iron Dome,” he said, referring to Israel’s missile defence system.

“We’re going to have the best Iron Dome in the world...Because it just takes one maniac to, you know, start something.”

Mr Musk said the ex-president “was the path to prosperity and Kamala is the opposite”. At one point he also appeared to be touting for a job under a future Trump administration, suggesting he would like to serve on a cost-cutting committee.

“I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that taxpayer money ... is spent in a good way,” he said. “I’d be happy to help out on such a commission.”

Mr Trump appeared sold on the job application. “You’re the greatest cutter,” he told Mr Musk.

Mr Trump went on a tirade against Mr Biden, reflecting on a recent image he saw.

“Biden is close to vegetable stage,” he said.

“Why would anyone allow him, does he have a political adviser who thinks this looks good? It looks so bad. It’s ridiculous. He can’t even lift a chair.”

Mr Trump was even more fired up when speaking about his Democrat opponent Ms Harris.

“She is a radical left lunatic,” Mr Trump said. “If she is going to be president, you’re not going to have a country anymore. She wants to be more Trump than Trump.”

When Mr Trump started to wrap up the interview, he commented on the amount of listeners they had.

“60 million listeners,” Mr Trump claimed before appearing to ask someone next to him how many were online.

As Mr Musk laughed, audiences could hear someone whispering to Mr Trump. “25 million,” Mr Trump then said.

When Mr Trump made the claim, X displayed that 1.2 million listeners were in the space.

It is unclear if Trump or Musk had access to another figure.

“You are an amazing guy. A great inspiration to people,” Mr Trump said, thanking Mr Musk for hosting the interview.