Elon Musk’s highly anticipated interview with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on X was plagued by significant technical issues, reminiscent of a similar event with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier in the 2024 election cycle.
The interview, scheduled for 8 p.m. on X’s audio-only livestream platform, was delayed by approximately 45 minutes due to widespread connectivity problems. Many users reported being unable to access the event, encountering either gray-toned web pages or unavailability notifications on mobile devices.
Conservative pundit Erick Erickson pointed out the irony, suggesting that Trump supporters who had mocked DeSantis for his event’s technical failures should now see the tables turn on them.
Musk blamed the difficulties on a “massive DDOS attack” on X, or a distributed denial of service attack. He had previously announced plans to conduct system scaling tests in preparation for the event, but these precautions proved insufficient to prevent the platform from crashing.
Despite the setbacks, the interview eventually proceeded with approximately one million listeners tuned in. Described by The Guardian as “the incoherent in full pursuit of the unendurable,” the interview was a repeat of the former president’s favorite talking points at rallies, with Musk devotedly agreeing.
The billionaire has recently pledged his support for Trump and has set up a super PAC to support the campaign. Trump, for his part, maybe doesn’t hate EVs as much anymore. He told Musk that his cars are “incredible” but “that doesn’t mean everybody should have an electric car.”
The interview also comes just days after Trump Media and Technology Group, the company behind Trump’s X clone Truth Social, reported significant financial losses in its latest earnings report.
For the quarter ending June 30, the company posted a $16.4 million loss, with about half attributed to legal expenses related to its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Revenue declined by 30% compared to the previous year, falling to $836,900.
While Truth Social claims to have zero debt and sufficient working capital for future operations, the company also incurred $3.1 million in technology consulting and software licensing expenses, primarily for its new TV streaming service, Truth+.
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