Trump and Musk: A two-hour power talk on X sparks debate on global and domestic issues

The U.S. presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, gave an interview to American billionaire Elon Musk. The two-hour conversation was broadcast on the social media platform X, reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.

The start of the interview was delayed by more than 40 minutes due to technical issues. Musk claimed that a DDoS attack targeted his platform. The view counters showed that around 1.3 million people were watching his conversation with Trump, but in the end, Musk stated that more than a billion users had watched it.

Relations with Russia and China

The former president and the owner of X discussed various topics, including the economy, the threat of nuclear war, the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian conflict, and immigration. Trump also mentioned that if he wins the U.S. presidential election, he hopes to ‘get along’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin again.

“We got along very well,” he said. “He respected me.” The former U.S. president shared that Putin talked a lot about Ukraine, and he advised him not to “do it” [referring to launching a military operation against Ukraine].

In Trump’s opinion, current U.S. President Joe Biden ‘made a mistake’ by publicly discussing Ukraine’s potential NATO membership. Trump believes this was one of the main reasons behind Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. Putin himself has repeatedly justified the military operation by claiming that he was forced into it by NATO’s aggressive policies.

Trump said that he also had good relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. According to Trump, he would not have allowed a crisis in relations with these countries to develop.

“They are the best at what they do. They’re tough, they’re smart, they’re ruthless, and they will defend their countries. And when they see Kamala, when they see Biden, they simply can’t believe it,” Trump said.

He stated that if he wins, he hopes to establish good relations with Putin. He also mentioned that the U.S. should not allow the ‘alignment of interests between Russia and China’. Trump believes that the U.S. needs a president who can stand up to them. During the interview, he also stated that China ‘will soon catch up to or even surpass us in nuclear arsenal’.

The assassination attempt

The U.S. presidential candidate recounted that he immediately realized a bullet had grazed his ear. He was surprised by the amount of blood. According to Trump, he was saved by a head movement made a split second before the shot.

“Illegal immigration saved my life. It was a miracle. If I hadn’t turned my head, I wouldn’t be talking to you now, as much as I like you,” Trump said.

He explained to Musk that he had been looking at a table of data on illegal immigration in the U.S. at the moment of the shot. He called the event ‘divine intervention’ and said it strengthened his faith in God. He also mentioned that he would now ‘sleep’ with that table. Trump also praised the work of the U.S. Secret Service, stating that the agents quickly shielded him with their bodies, and a sniper neutralized the shooter before anyone else could be injured. However, the former president criticized the overall coordination of law enforcement, as one officer had previously warned about a suspicious man.

Trump, Musk slam Harris and her running mate as ‘far left’

“They’re rewriting history and making Kamala sound like a moderate, when in fact, she is far left, like far, far left,” Musk said during his conversation with Trump on X.

Trump interrupted, calling Harris ‘worse than Bernie Sanders’, the progressive independent senator from Vermont.

“She is considered more liberal, by far, than Bernie Sanders, She’s a radical left lunatic. And if she’s going to be a president, very quickly, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” the former president said.

Trump then attacked Harris for choosing Tim Walz as her running mate, taking aim at Minnesota’s Democratic governor for signing into law progressive policies in state — particularly a bill last year that mandates that school districts and charter schools provide free menstrual products in all restrooms, for both girls and boys, regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12.

“Well, her running mate approved, signed into legislation, tampons in boys bathrooms,” Trump said.

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Musk responded.

“And that means she believes that too,” Trump said.

“Yeah, that’s not OK,” Musk added.

Trump said that ‘a lot of people thought she’d pick sort of the opposite, but she picked an anti-Israel, radical-left person’, referring to Walz.

However, the Republican candidate gave Harris an unexpected compliment, noting that she looked “gorgeous” on the latest cover of Time magazine, comparing her to his wife Melania.

Overall, Trump characterized Harris as a radical Democrat and a ‘supporter of illegal immigration.’

US domestic issues

Musk and Trump once again discussed the problem of immigration. According to the presidential candidate, ‘dangerous people and killers from countries like Congo’ are coming to the U.S. He stated that he would crack down on immigration, noting that people are coming to the U.S. from all over the world, not just from Mexico.

Trump also criticized the current administration’s economic policies.

“I think we have the worst inflation in 100 years,” the former president stated.

According to Trump, budget spending should be limited, and many programs should be cut. He proposes creating a government efficiency commission to audit expenditures. For example, he suggested closing the U.S. Department of Education and returning its functions to individual states.

Elon Musk mentioned that he plans to conduct the same type of interview with Kamala Harris as he did with Trump.