Malfunction junction: Elon Musk chats up Donald Trump amid X tech glitches

WASHINGTON - Billionaire and social media owner Elon Musk conducted a very friendly interview Monday with his endorsed 2024 presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump - once X was able to broadcast it after a glitch delayed the start by about 40 minutes.

Many thousands of X users could not hear a thing when the broadcast began at 8 p.m., eastern time, blocked by Internet denial of service troubles that have plagued the website in previous events.

"Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later," Musk said in an X post as frustrated listeners complained.

The broadcast began shortly after 8:40 p.m., with Musk discussing how much he disliked "adversarial" interviews and millions of people listening in.

Instead, Musk spent much of the session by asking about the GOP nominee's assassination attempt and discussing their mutual opposition to illegal border crossings. Trump again announced he will soon be traveling back to Butler, Pa., site of last month's shooting.

When Musk called the assassination attempt "a very near thing," Trump said: "It was a miracle ... If I hadn't turned my head, yeah, I would not be talking to you right now, as much as I like you."

In his questioning, the X owner who endorsed Trump last month allowed him to attack Democratic opponent Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden without any pushback on issues like the economy and tense foreign relations. Trump repeated many of the same stories about his presidency he tells on the campaign trail.

The ex-president also denounced the criminal cases and lawsuits against him, again without any skepticism from Musk, who at one point attacked "abuse of the legal system."

The two men did not discuss campaign fundraising, though Trump marveled at the number of people tuned into the interview and joked at one point: "Do I get paid for this or not?"

Aides to Harris called the interview little more than a paid advertisement for the former president.

“Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in," said Harris campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello. "Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself - self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”

The pro-Trump crowd seemed pleased with the two-hour conversation, after numerous users expressed frustration with the problems that delayed the broadcast at its start.

"The @realDonaldTrump X space lets me in briefly and then says it’s unavailable," tweeted U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Later in the evening, Lee added: “Thank you, @realDonaldTrump, for your willingness to serve.”

The problems were reminiscent of the meltdown that marred Musk's 2023 interview with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to announce his presidential candidacy.

Some Trump supporters took the problems in stride. On X, activist Laura Loomer wrote: "President Trump broke the internet. Literally." Trump spokesman Steven Cheung also posted a tribute to "BREAKING THE INTERNET!"

The Trump team had hoped to use the event to raise money.

In another post on X, the campaign said: "This is the biggest interview in history, and now, we’re asking YOU to make this President Trump’s BIGGEST FUNDRAISING DAY EVER!"

Trump critics, meanwhile, reminded Internet viewers what the campaign said about DeSantis' problems during his X interview last year: "Glitchy. Tech issues. Uncomfortable silences. A complete failure to launch. And that's just the candidate."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk chats up Donald Trump amid X's tech glitches