On Monday night, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview that — eventually — was broadcast live on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which is now controlled by infamous billionaire Elon Musk. And that’s who conducted the interview: Musk, though the start was marred by delay.
“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 tonight to whatever that was on X.com,” said a statement from the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. “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 criticism of Trump wasn’t limited to the Harris campaign. “Trump rambles, slurs his way through Elon Musk interview. It was an unmitigated disaster,” said a headline of an opinion article published in USA Today. Hillary Clinton herself posted a link to it, asking: “Serious question: Is Donald Trump OK?”
The reaction mirrors much of what followed a recent press conference that Trump held at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Lately, Trump’s time in the public spotlight has been largely interviews and similar interactions rather than actual appearances on the campaign trail. He visited Montana last week for a rally — though the state is not a swing state in presidential elections. In his absence, running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is picking up a lot of the campaign trail slack, and Trump himself will apparently be ramping up his appearances on the campaign trail later this month, following the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.
In the meantime, Democratic presidential pick Kamala Harris is already visiting electoral battleground states across the U.S., joined throughout the trekking by her running mate, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz.
