Former United States President Donald Trump was interviewed by billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) today. The interview had a rocky start and was delayed by 40 minutes after the Tesla Chief announced that there was a cyber attack on his social media platform. The two businessmen discussed a variety of topics ahead of US polls including immigration, layoffs, the assassination attempt on Mr Trump and climate change. Amid this, Mr Musk has now invited US Vice President Kamala Harris for a chat on X Spaces.

He took to the microblogging platform and wrote, “Happy to host Kamala on an X Spaces too.”

Happy to host Kamala on an Spaces too

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

Since being shared, his post has amassed a variety of reactions online.

The Trump campaign reacted to the post with a folded hands emoji.

A person joked, “Same chance of her agreeing to come on as me meeting Abraham Lincoln tomorrow morning.”

“It would be really smart of her to do this. Significantly simpler logistics than doing a rally, with a far larger potential impact. I’m sure you’d be a fair interviewer,” said a person.

A user stated, “Free Speech! @VP should 100% do this. The American people deserve to hear your thoughts on the issues!”

Meanwhile, the Republican candidate slammed Ms Harris and said, “The number of illegals Kamala (Harris) has welcomed into our communities is much bigger than we think.” He told Elon Musk, “Countries are emptying their prisons – and sending them to our country. They’re bringing crime and violence to our backyards,” he said.

In a separate comment, he also said that the country “will go out of business,” if she wins US elections 2024. “We don’t have a president right now – and Kamala is even worse. She’s a San Francisco liberal who destroyed that city, destroyed California, and will destroy our country if she’s elected,” Donald Trump said.

Reacting to the same, Ms Harris’ presidential campaign issued a statement on X. They said, “Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on X.com.”

They added, “Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”

New Delhi:

Donald Trump’s much-awaited interview with Elon Musk on X today was hit by major tech issues even before it could start, forcing the billionaire entrepreneur to run the interview only for a small number of users as several others were unable to tune in.

The interview could provide Trump an opportunity to seize the limelight at a time his Democratic rival for the US presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased his lead in opinion polls and energised Democratic voters with a series of high-energy rallies. The Trump campaign has called it the “interview of the century”.

“This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!” 53-year-old Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $235 billion, posted in a preview of the interview on Sunday.

Trump’s access to his account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored a month into Musk’s ownership of X after being suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress by his supporters.Trump frequently posts on his Truth Social social media platform, which was launched in February 2022.

Trump, 78, posted on X for the first time on Monday in more than a year ahead of the interview, sharing a campaign video in which he portrayed himself as the victim of persecution by forces seeking to “destroy” the United States.

Musk, one of the Democrats’ fiercest critics, endorsed Trump last month just minutes after the Republican narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally.