Convicted felon and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shall be becoming a member of world’s richest midlife disaster sufferer Elon Musk on X for a stay interview Monday night, and watchers are nearly definitely in for some weirdness.
The trade between the 2 unabashed media hounds will mark the primary time Trump has appeared on the platform previously often called Twitter since he was banned from the positioning simply days after the Jan. 6 rebellion on the Capitol.
The interview is ready to happen as an audio-only occasion. It’s unclear whether or not Musk would be the sole interviewer, or simply part of the occasion.
Both means, Musk’s current interviews have been public relations disasters.
He just lately sat down with right-wing pseudo-intellectual Jordan Peterson and proceeded to assault his personal transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson. The gross show resulted in a scathing public response from Wilson, who mentioned Musk was an absent dad or mum and known as him “cruel” and a “serial adulterer,” amongst different issues.
Musk unceremoniously canceled a partnership cope with former CNN host Don Lemon after the 2 did an interview collectively, ostensibly to launch Lemon’s present on X. Musk was clearly uncomfortable being requested something however the softest of softball questions, and abruptly ended the deal.
Lemon is suing Musk and X for fraud and breach of contract.
Since buying Twitter in October 2021, Musk has renamed the corporate, reinstated quite a few extremist accounts (together with Trump’s), fired almost three-quarters of the workforce, and elevated his political posts exponentially.
In line with The Washington Put up, Musk’s posts on X that embody political content material have elevated from 2% in 2021 to 17% in 2024. Conversely, posts together with content material about his corporations—Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX—have dropped. On the identical time, Musk is posting 5 occasions as many posts as he did in 2021.
Musk’s transformation from liberal environmentalist to full-out right-wing shill has been precipitous. As soon as a supporter of President Barack Obama, Musk has more and more recast himself as one thing of a fascist, banning or obstructing speech he doesn’t like on his social media web site whereas permitting right-wing misinformation to run rampant—and even personally spreading it himself.
In Could 2022, Musk introduced his help for a crimson wave on X.
“I support free speech, but not any one candidate. In fact, I gave money to & voted for Hillary & then voted for Biden,” he tweeted. “However, given unprovoked attacks by leading Democrats against me & a very cold shoulder to Tesla & SpaceX, I intend to vote Republican in November.”
When the Republican crimson wave didn’t materialize, Musk introduced he would help Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if he determined to run for president.
“My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist,” Musk tweeted. “I had hoped that would be the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.”
Musk’s monitor file as a political kingmaker is lower than spectacular up to now. In Could 2023, DeSantis determined to make his marketing campaign official with a kick-off occasion on Twitter that was marred by technical glitches and delays. DeSantis’ marketing campaign proceeded to limp out of the gate and ultimately undergo a humiliating demise.
We will solely hope for a repeat after Musk’s interview with Trump.
Donald To Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s marketing campaign now!
