Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI,AUG 13 : Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s much-awaited interview with Elon Musk was a mix of grievances, personal attacks and claims, with the billionaire showing occasional encouragement. During the chat, which was livestreamed on X and delayed by about 40 minutes due to technical glitch, Trump claimed that Joe Biden’s exit from the White House race was a “coup”.

“I beat Biden so bad in the debate, he was forced out of the race – one of the greatest debate performances ever. Biden’s exit, it was a coup.” the 78-year-old told the billionaire.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks as he participates in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on X at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. (Photo: Reuters)

Biden, who had been resilient in not ending the presidential race, suddenly dropped out of it last month and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris instead for the top job. The 81-year-old’s decision came after pressure from his fellow Democrats for him to quit the race mounted, following a dismal June 28 debate performance with Donald Trump.

During the chat with Elon Musk, Trump expressed anger over Kamala Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential pick. “She hasn’t done an interview since this whole scam started,” the Republican presidential nominee said.

Musk called Kamala Harris “far left” while Trump called her a “radical-left lunatic”. The two also jabbed her running Tim Walz, with Trump taking an aim at the Minnesota’s Democratic Governor for signing into law progressive policies in state.

“Well, her running mate approved, signed into legislation, tampons in boys’ bathrooms,” Trump said.

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Musk replied.

‘NOT PLEASANT’ ASSASSINATION BID

During the conversation with Elon Musk, Trump also recounted the assassination attempt against him, terming it “not pleasant”.

“It was a hard hit. It was very, I guess you would say, surreal, but it was not surreal. You know, I was telling somebody, you have instances like this…where you feel it’s a surreal situation. And I never felt that way. I knew immediately that it was a bullet,” Trump responded to Musk’s question about what the shooting was “like for you”.

The billionaire said that part of the reason he endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential bid was because of his response to the assassination bid at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler last month. Recalling the former US President’s fist pump pictures that had quickly gone viral, Musk said it was “just incredibly inspiring”.

Donald Trump also told Elon Musk that he vowed to return to Butler in October. “I think I’ll start by saying, ‘As I was saying prior to being so horribly interrupted’,” he joked.

Thousands of users tried to join the conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, with more than 1.3 million people tuned in about 45 minutes into the conversation, according to a counter on

“Congratulations on breaking every record in the book,” Trump said, an apparent reference to the number of people who tried to tune into their conversation.

Elon Musk blamed the delay on a distributed denial-of-service attack, wherein a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down. However, his claim was not confirmed.

Trump also renewed his attack on Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Calling her Biden’s “border czar”, the 78-year-old repeated his claims of other countries sending criminals and those with mental illness across the US border. He reiterated, that if elected, he would oversee the “largest deportation” in the history of America.

Musk chimed in, saying the US needs to limit illegal immigration, as he recounted an experience of travelling to the southern border. The billionaire said the people he saw at the border “did not look friendly”.

Donald Trump, who has in the past said that Joe Biden has a low IQ, upped his attack during his chat with Elon Musk. The Republican presidential nominee said that the US President “might not even have an IQ at all”.

He made the remarks while the two men discussed the Russia-Ukraine war, with Trump saying that Russia had been clear about the consequences if Ukraine ever became a part of NATO.

Furthermore, the 78-year-old claimed that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he was still the US President. His statement also featured praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – all authoritarian strongmen – as being at the “top of their game”.

“I got along with Putin very well, and he respected me,” Trump told Elon Musk.

TRUMP ATTACKS BIDEN ON INFLATION CRISIS

Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden for the US’s inflation crisis, saying it has “killed” Americans.

“I think we have the worst inflation we’ve had in 100 years. They say it’s 48 years. I don’t believe it,” the former US President told Elon Musk.

In 2022, US inflation hit 9.1 per cent, the country’s highest annual rate in over 40 years.

During the two-hour-long conversation with Donald Trump, Elon Musk offered to take a role in the 78-year-old’s administration helping to control government spending if the former is re-elected.

“I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers’ hard-earned money, is spent in a good way,” Musk told Trump.

The 78-year-old said he “love” if Musk were involved, noting the X owner’s cost-cutting measures at the social media company.

“You’re the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s okay, you’re all gone,” the Republican presidential nominee said.

In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk and Donald Trump discussed a potential role for the billionaire in the latter’s administration if he is re-elected. However, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO had pushed back on the report at the time.

-The India Today