Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s highly anticipated online event with former President Donald Trump was delayed Monday due to technical difficulties, as some users of Musk’s X app said they were unable to access the discussion.
The discussion began About 40 minutes after the scheduled 8:00 PM ET start time, unlike his public rallies, which were mostly Trump monologues, Musk occasionally interjected with a friendly question on topics the two men generally agree on. They were bound by their shared opposition to immigration, as both said the United States would cease to be a real country if immigration continued at current levels.
Apparently speaking off the cuff, Trump casually insulted his enemies, saying President Joe Biden was a “stupid face.” He repeated claims that have been disproven, including the theory of a “Congo” that is not a country. had emptied the prisons of murderers and sent them to the United States
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has tried to push Trump to act on climate change and divest from fossil fuels, but he has had little effect as Trump has said energy innovation is “not my world.”
“I expect you to come up with solar panels on the roofs of your cars,” Trump said.
The technological problems repeated similar difficulties from May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ran for the Republican presidential nomination and the site repeatedly crashed as its servers went down. could not cope with the increase in traffic.
The audio-only discussion eventually began and lasted for about two hours. According to X’s public estimates, it attracted more than 1.3 million listeners at its peak. The incident came as Trump has since scaled back his personal appearances a conspirator shot him at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Trump and Musk spent the beginning of the event explaining the assassination attempt, including what the Secret Service could have done differently to prevent the shooting, and Trump’s fist-pumping reaction immediately afterward.
“I just want to say that I think a lot of people admire your courage out there under fire,” Musk said.
Trump later joked, “Illegal immigration saved my life,” referring to the topic and the timeline he was talking about when the shootings started.
Trump’s spokesperson posted a photo of Trump during the conversation.
Trump’s campaign previously called the event “the interview of the century,” while Musk promised it would be “written without any restrictions on the subject matter.”
Musk said the first technical difficulties were related to a “massive DDOS attack on X”, referring to a “distributed denial of service” attack in which hostile users try to subvert the system to cause chaos, although Musk did not provide. proof of assault. NBC News could not confirm Musk’s claim.
One expert on massive DDoS attacks, the most common type of DDoS, which simply involves directing large amounts of fake traffic to a computer network, recently said that a scan of Internet traffic showed no sign of an attack targeting X, which otherwise works. normally. The expert asked not to be named, fearing retaliation.
Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, a company that monitors Internet traffic, X noted Any sufficiently loaded server is indistinguishable from DDoS.
Some X users have said they believe the problem is X’s technical capabilities rather than an attack. The word “crashed” suddenly appeared on X’s trending list in reference to the app’s software, as users wrote in frustration about not being able to attend the event.
As users struggled to connect, scammers took advantage of this opportunity. A fake Tesla YouTube account posted a live stream of a verified video of Elon Musk asking users to scan a QR code to “double” their cryptocurrency. Many crypto scammers use similar tactics to steal bitcoin.
The event showed how reconciled Trump and Musk have become after years of ups and downs in their relationship. It appeared to be their first public event together since Trump was in the White House, albeit just two people met at least once in person this year Palm Beach, Florida.
Musk endorsed Trump last month For another term in the White House and as one of the world’s richest men, he brought his checkbook to the presidential race, contribute to a political action committee In order to increase the turnout in the November 5 elections.
Trump wins in the fall It could be a boost to Musk’s business empire. His companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, have been embroiled in multiple regulatory battles with the Biden administration, and Trump has vowed to advance his regulatory agenda.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh, have also received massive support from their supporters on social media. posts a lot of memes and videos.
The relationship between Musk and Trump has not always been so warm. In 2022, Musk said he wants to see Trump.hang up your hat and sail off into the sunset” and Trump responded, writing on Truth Social that Musk was Musk over a barrel when he visited the White House: “I could say ‘get down on your knees and beg’ and he would do it.
Musk said later He would support DeSantis In the 2024 Republican presidential election and he personally X hosted the event Launching DeSantis’ campaign.
A key question surrounding the Trump-Musk alliance is the future of federal subsidies for electric vehicles, including those made by Tesla. Trump spoke out against the government is taking measures to increase electrification, and Tesla continues to receive billions of dollars a year in regulatory loans.
Trump pointed out their difference on Monday, telling Musk he has an “incredible” product, but “that doesn’t mean everybody has to own an electric car.”