Elon Musk set to interview Donald Trump – as ex-US president returns to X
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Elon Musk is set to interview Donald Trump on the social media platform X.
Mr Musk teased the “live conversation” with Mr Trump, saying it would be “unscripted” and therefore “highly entertaining”.
The former US president – whose account on X (when it was known as Twitter) was suspended in 2021 after his supporters stormed the US Capitol – returned to the platform ahead of the event, making several posts.
Here’s what you need to know about the conversation – and the history between the pair.
Tensions between Trump and Musk
Much of the pair’s initial disagreements revolved around Mr Musk’s electric car maker Tesla, because Mr Trump has been a longstanding critic of electric vehicles.
Tensions first bubbled in June 2017, five months into Mr Trump’s presidency, when Mr Musk quit White House advisory panels because the administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, a landmark 2016 treaty meant to tackle climate issues globally.
“Climate change is real,” Mr Musk wrote at the time. “Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”
Musk shifts stance on Biden
After Mr Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid, Mr Musk said he was “super fired up” about US President Joe Biden’s climate-change agenda and optimistic “about the future of sustainable energy.”
The South African-born billionaire had already suggested he predominantly voted for the Democrats after becoming a US citizen in 2002.
But it was seemingly Mr Musk’s frustrations with Mr Trump’s successor which proved the catalyst for his political shift.
In 2021, he began to distance himself from Mr Biden when the White House didn’t invite Tesla to a gathering of electric vehicle (EV) makers, and in 2022 claimed he had “reluctantly voted for Biden over Trump” in the 2020 election.
Musk reverses Trump ban – but it fails to stop bickering
In May 2022, before he owned X, Mr Musk said he would reverse Mr Trump’s permanent ban on the platform.
It was a pledge he stuck to once his $44bn X takeover went through.
Mr Musk and Mr Trump speak at a SpaceX launch in 2020. Pic: Reuters
However, it wasn’t enough to calm tensions between the two, as Mr Trump took aim at Mr Musk during a rally in July 2022.
He claimed the Tesla owner had told him in a private conversation that he voted for him over Mr Biden in the 2020 election.
“Another bullshit artist,” Mr Trump said of Mr Musk, who denied voting for him and tweeted saying: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.”
In 2023, Mr Musk was asked how he’d vote if Mr Trump and Mr Biden faced off again in the 2024 election.
“I think I would not vote for Biden,” he said, but stopped short of endorsing Mr Trump and simply said: “This is definitely a difficult choice here.”
Musk escalates rhetoric
At one point, Mr Musk revealed he would back Republican governor Ron DeSantis if he ran in the 2024 presidential race. But Mr DeSantis, who was rivalling Mr Trump for the Republican presidential candidate spot, suspended his campaign in January 2024 after the former president scored a record-breaking victory in the Republican Party’s Iowa caucuses.
Mr Musk began escalating his rhetoric on social issues over time, commenting and sharing content regarding the likes of immigration and transgender rights, with his views appearing to align more with right-wing ideals.
He also became increasingly critical of Mr Biden’s administration.
Read more:
Biden reveals reason why he pulled out of presidential race
Musk v Starmer: What they have accused each other of
In March this year, Mr Trump met Mr Musk and other wealthy donors.
In response to the reports, Mr Musk posted on X saying: “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President.”
In May, Mr Musk also denied media reports there had been talks over a potential advisory role for him in any Trump presidency.
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‘My crowd was bigger than Martin Luther King’s’
Musk backs Trump
Mr Musk formally threw his support behind Mr Trump just after the Republican presidential candidate was shot in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally last month.
Days later, it was reported Mr Musk was going to start donating around $45m a month to a political group working to elect Mr Trump called America PAC.
Mr Trump has also shifted his stance since Mr Musk’s endorsement, telling a rally earlier this month: “I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.”
When is the interview and how can people tune in?
It’s scheduled for 1am UK time and it’s going to be hosted on Mr Trump’s X page, @realDonaldTrump.
The platform has had issues with Spaces – a feature that allows X users to have live audio conversations with other users – glitching during high-profile moments, including when Mr DeSantis used it to officially announce his presidential bid in May.
Spaces was overloaded by the more than 400,000 people who tried to dial in and ultimately buckled under the pressure.
But Mr Musk has posted on X several times to say he has been conducting “some system scaling tests” to handle what’s anticipated to be a high volume of participants.
The X owner said the interview will be “entertainment guaranteed” and has made a point of saying it will be “unscripted with no limits on subject matter”.
He has also invited X users to post their own questions and comments during the interaction, which will be held through the site’s audio-only Spaces format.
Mr Trump returned to X ahead of the interview. As well as promoting the event, he wrote: “Are you better off now than you were when I was president? Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We’re a nation in decline.
“Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!”
The last time Mr Trump had posted to X was in August last year, when he shared a photo of his mugshot after being booked on 13 election fraud charges in Georgia.
