August 13th 2024.
Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, sat down for a highly anticipated interview with Elon Musk on his social media platform, X. The interview, which was originally scheduled for 8 p.m. US Eastern time, was delayed due to a cyberattack on the platform. Musk, who is a supporter of Trump, posted on X that there appeared to be a massive distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack and they were working on resolving the issue. He also mentioned that they had tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier that day.
After a few updates from Musk, the interview finally went live at 8:30 p.m. ET. Trump and Musk touched on various topics, including immigration, the economy, education, climate change, and international relationships. The former president also shared a personal story about how illegal immigration may have saved his life during an assassination attempt at an election rally. Musk agreed and commended the quick actions of the Secret Service in protecting Trump.
The conversation then shifted to the 2024 presidential election and Trump's endorsement from X's owner. It was noted that Trump had a much larger following on X compared to his own social media platform, Truth Social. While Truth Social had only 5 million monthly active users, X boasted of 600 million monthly active users, giving Trump a much larger platform to reach his audience.
Despite Trump's permanent suspension from X (then known as Twitter) in 2021, Musk lifted the ban after he bought the platform. Trump returned to X in August 2023 and has since gained over 3 million new followers. However, he remains active on his own platform as well. The interview with Musk was his first post since his return to X.
The former president's focus on crowd size and audience reach was evident during the interview, as he mentioned the importance of having a large platform to share his message. This could also be attributed to his past experience with election rallies and events. While Trump had the upper hand in the 2024 presidential race when President Joe Biden was still in the running, things changed when Biden dropped out and endorsed his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris has since energized the Democratic party, raised more funds, and taken the lead in polls, even in key battleground states. The interview with Musk, while friendly and supportive, will surely be closely followed by both allies and the Harris campaign. As for the delay caused by the cyberattack, it was a reminder of the ever-present threat of digital attacks and the importance of cybersecurity in today's world.
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