Donald Trump Returns to X for Live Interview with Elon Musk

Donald Trump is returning to X for a live interview on Monday with the platform’s owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Both men are scheduled to hold a “live conversation” at 8 pm ET that Musk has described as “unscripted with no limits.” The event will be streamed on X Spaces

pic.twitter.com/tf87iebMdN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

This video is likely to energize his vast following of 88 million on X, generating immense interest in the upcoming interview. To prepare for the massive influx of viewers, Musk announced that they would conduct a “system scaling test” to gauge X’s streaming capabilities ahead of the conversation with Trump, who has declared himself as the “Crypto President.”

The tests aim to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing technical issues that occurred during Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ live presidential campaign launch on X. The previous event was disrupted by technical glitches on the social media platform, where it was overloaded by the more than 400,000 who tried to dial in.

The upcoming interview with Trump presents an opportunity for the platform to showcase its capabilities. The conversation would expose the former President to a large audience (both Trump and Musk have a combined following of over 200 million followers) while testing X’s capacity to host high-profile political content.

The Trump interview on X joins a list of notable political moments on the platform, including President Biden’s departure announcement and the airing of Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson. As X continues to navigate the world of political discourse, this interview could become a proving ground for the platform’s capabilities.

From Enemies to Allies: Musk and Trump’s Political Truce

Meanwhile, the interview represents Elon Musk’s latest high-profile move ahead of the November election.

Earlier this year, the Tesla CEO created a pro-Trump political action committee called the America PAC. The committee’s ambitious goal is to bankroll the former President’s campaign with as much as $45 million a month and mobilize thousands of voters in critical swing states.

Musk later denied ever intending to give that much. But what’s equally surprising for the neutrals is that as recently as 2022, Musk and Trump regularly traded insults on social media.

Some few months later, they appear to have buried the hatchet. Musk endorsed the Republican candidate in the wake of his assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania that left Trump with a bullet wound on his ear. In turn, Trump has praised the billionaire, even going as far as to soften his criticisms of EVs.