International Courant
Former President Donald Trump, left, throughout a rally at Minden Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nevada, Oct. 8, 2022, and Elon Musk in Wilmington, Delaware, July 12, 2021.
AP
Elon Musk will interview former President Donald Trump on social media platform X on Monday night time, the newest collaboration between two males whose unlikely alliance may very well be a key issue within the closing weeks of the presidential race.
“That is unscripted and has no restrictions on subject material, so it will likely be extremely entertaining!” Musk, the billionaire CEO of each Tesla and SpaceX, wrote in a Sunday publish on X. The occasion is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and will likely be streamed on X, which Musk owns.
Just a few hours earlier than the interview, Trump posted a marketing campaign advert on his private X account. It was the primary time Trump posted on X since August 2023.
The previous president sometimes limits his social media actions to Reality Social, the conservative platform owned by his eponymous media firm, Trump Media & Expertise Group.
Trump helped discovered Reality Social and later made it his main platform after he was suspended from the then-Twitter and Fb platforms following the January 6 Capitol riot.
As a part of his contract with the brand new firm, Trump agreed to cease posting content material on Twitter, now X, that he hadn’t already posted to Reality Social. However the settlement has a loophole: Trump can at all times use his private X and Fb accounts for any posts which can be political or campaign-related. in line with an organization monetary submitting.
Trump’s return to X on Monday raised the prospect that he would possibly publish extra incessantly on the platform that was so essential to his political rise, now that it’s owned by a pleasant Musk.
Trump Media shares closed down 5% on Monday forward of the decision with Musk.
Musk posted on X that he deliberate to run “some system scale assessments” to gauge the streaming capabilities of the X platform forward of the occasion with Trump.
The assessments are supposed to stop a repeat of the disastrous dwell launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2023 presidential marketing campaign in Could, which was held on the social media platform. The webcast glitches ruined the extremely anticipated occasion.
Musk jumps into politics
The interview with Trump is Musk’s newest high-profile foray into the 2024 presidential election.
Earlier this yr, Musk created the America PAC, a pro-Trump political motion committee that Musk reportedly deliberate to fund with as a lot as $45 million a month. Musk later denied he ever deliberate to offer that a lot.
The PAC has set itself the purpose of mobilize 800,000 voters for Trump in vital swing states. However after a rocky begin and excessive turnover, CNBC reported that the PAC is dealing with questions from state election officers about the way it collects and makes use of voters’ private data.
Whereas the destiny of the PAC stays unclear, Monday night time’s dialog might present a fine addition for Trump at a vital time for the Republican presidential nominee.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz seem collectively on stage throughout a marketing campaign occasion at Girard School in Philadelphia, August 6, 2024.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Photos
Simply three weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris surprisingly entered the race, the Democrat has erased Trump’s lead within the polls and shifted the momentum of a battle that at one level regarded like Trump would possibly lose.
A high-profile, high-profile assembly with Musk might revitalize Trump’s voter base.
A sophisticated relationship
It is also the opposite approach round. Trump and Musk are each polarizing figures who’ve difficult relationships with one another and with politics.
As late as 2022, Musk and Trump public enemies, who exchanged insults on social media and at political rallies.
“I don’t hate the person, nevertheless it’s time for Trump to hold up his hat and sail off into the sundown,” Musk wrote on social media in July 2022.
The following day, Trump responded to Musk on Reality Social:
“When Elon Musk got here to the White Home… I might have stated, ‘get down in your knees and beg,’ and he would have performed it…” Trump wrote.
Two years later, the 2 seem to have buried the hatchet.
Musk endorsed Trump in July, hours after an assassination try at a rally in Pennsylvania that left the previous president with a minor gunshot wound to the ear and a spectator useless.
Trump, for his half, seems to have modified his tune on Musk, even softening his criticism of electrical automobiles.
“I really like Elon. He’s nice,” Trump stated final month on the Bitcoin Convention in Nashville. “He’s been supportive of me, and nice help and all the things. However not everyone has to have an electrical automobile.”
This can be a creating story. Verify again for updates.
