Donald Trump will be interviewed Monday live on X by its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, an influential supporter, as the Republican ex-president works to reignite online enthusiasm for his sagging White House campaign.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a major voice in US politics but is accused of turning the platform formerly known as Twitter into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories.
Trump, 78, posted on X for the first time in more than a year ahead of the interview, sharing a campaign video in which he portrayed himself as the victim of persecution by forces seeking to “destroy” the United States.
Musk is one of President Joe Biden’s fiercest critics, leveraging his 194 million-strong following on X to assail efforts to boost diversity and inclusion — what he calls the “woke mind virus” — and Democrats’ handling of the southern border.
The conversation is expected to be convivial as the previously rocky relationship between the tech tycoon and the Republican nominee has been transformed, tracking Musk’s rise to hero status among young men aligned with Trump’s views.
As part of that attempt, the former president hosted internet influencer Adin Ross, who has been repeatedly banned from streaming site Twitch for “hateful conduct” and other policy violations, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week.
Full endorsement
Musk endorsed Trump last month, just minutes after the Republican narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally.
But they have not always seen eye-to-eye.
The tech billionaire has been a US citizen for more than 20 years and has disclosed that he used to vote Democratic before turning against Biden, who is pro-union and did not invite the Tesla owner to a 2021 electric vehicle summit.
Misleading claims
Commenting on the recent riots in Britain, Musk claimed that “civil war is inevitable” and shared a false post about “detainment camps.”
New analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate shows that Musk’s false or misleading claims about the US elections have been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X.
The tech mogul late last month scaled down his commitment to donate tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign per month, although he recently co-founded a pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC.
Trump and Musk pair met privately in March and have since become closer, according to The Wall Street Journal, holding regular phone conversations.
With AFP
