Former President Donald Trump is making another return to X for a conversation with tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday night as Trump continues to find different avenues to draw in new voter bases.
“This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining,” Musk posted on X to his 193.8 million followers ahead of his conversation with the former president, which was set to start at 8 p.m. on the social media platform, which Musk owns. As of 8:15 p.m. ET, the event hadn’t started.
While Trump almost exclusively posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, he took to X to post for the first time in almost a year on Monday with a flurry of posts. Among his posts, Trump shared a campaign video alluding to the legal battles he faces as he mounts a third presidential bid for the White House. He later posted a promotion of the interview on X.
“#TrumpOnX,” widely circulated on the social media platform on Monday promoting the livestream event.
Ahead of the interview, the European Union warned that Musk he must comply with the its laws. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton posted that “with great audience comes greater responsibility.” The post, addressed to Musk, included a letter that mentions the recent violence in the United Kingdom, which was partly fueled by misinformation posted and amplified on X by multiple users, including allegedly by Musk.
Musk responded to criticism about those posts last week, pointing blame at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his response to the wave of riots that swept through England.
Trump’s campaign also responded in a post on X, saying the EU “should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the U.S. Presidential election.”
Trump’s appearance comes as Musk recently endorsed Trump following his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month, posting the video of Trump in the aftermath of getting shot and writing “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Bozeman, Mont., Aug. 9, 2024.
Rick Bowmer/AP
On the campaign trail this election, Trump too has repeatedly touted his close relationship with Musk, often praising him and calling himself a “fan” of the businessman.
Trump’s compliments of Musk often came as the former president railed against electric vehicles — something that could be seen as problematic for Musk, the CEO of Tesla, a major player in the EV market.
Trump, who often rails against electric vehicles even as he claims he supports all types of cars, said at a rally in Atlanta this month that he was “for electric cars.”
“I have to because Elon endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So, I have no choice,” Trump said, as he complained about how expensive charging is for electric vehicles.
On Jan. 8, 2021, Trump, who up to that point had been an avid user of then-Twitter, was “permanently suspended” from the platform “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol two days prior.
In its announcement suspending Trump’s account, the social media platform cited Trump’s posts from Jan. 6, 2021 – including “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” – saying such language “can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks.”
Trump’s account was reinstated in November 2022 after Musk took over then-Twitter.
Trump continues to remain mostly active on Truth Social — except in August last year to fundraise off of his famous mugshot from Fulton County jail after being arraigned in the Georgia election interference case.
Truth Social’s stock value saw a rapid decline earlier on Monday as the former president returned to X to promote his interview with Musk. Truth Social’s parent company has had a tumultuous past six months, with its stock value repeatedly going up and down by large margins — making Monday’s drop to $24.66 per stock from almost $27 per stock a week ago feel relatively miniscule.
Truth Social’s parent company also disclosed on Friday that the company had a $16 million loss for the quarter and revenue of just $836,000.
Trump is subject to a “Social Media Exclusivity Term” – an ongoing agreement under which he has to post content first on Truth Social before any other social media platform — except in certain circumstances, including for “politically-related” posts, which Trump is allowed to determine “in his sole discretion.”
“It was great that Elon bought it because now we have a voice,” Trump said about Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which was quickly renamed “X,” during an interview with Fox Business earlier this month. “We had no voice on Twitter, no voice at all. Everything we put out, they put a flag on it — no matter what you said, they put a flag on it.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, March 9, 2020.
Susan Walsh/AP
Since Musk’s endorsement of Trump, Musk has defended the former president on X.
There have also been cases where Musk has posted and amplified misinformation on X, including a post he reposted in January that falsely claimed a dependence on mail-in ballots would lead to a “rigged election.” Recently, election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington told Musk that the social media platform’s AI chatbot produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden announced he was leaving the 2024 race. He also recently he shared an edited video of Vice President Kamala Harris that used artificial intelligence to mimic her voice. He later claimed the video was parody, permissible under X’s rules.
The incidents have stoked concern among some experts about the potential for Musk to wield X as a means of influencing public conversation about an election in which he holds a clear preference.
During an interview last month, Musk said he created a political action committee named America PAC, which is now collecting voter information and running ads using clips from the assassination attempt on Trump.
The conversation on X is also part of the Trump campaign’s push to diversify Trump’s voter coalition by participating in alternative media avenues.
While Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have been crisscrossing the country visiting battleground states, the Trump campaign has had a slower public campaign schedule as they attempt to boost an online presence. Last week, Trump sat down with popular online streamer Adin Ross and his running mate. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance recently went on the Nelk Boys podcast.
However, online streams on X have faced technical difficulties in the past, derailing conversations. Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his presidential bid on X in a conversation with Musk and Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Sacks; however, the audio stream repeatedly crashed, pulling the focus away from DeSantis’ announcement and onto the glitches.
Musk, however, said in a post on X that he has spent the days leading up to Monday night’s interview by performing “some system scaling tests” on the platform in order to gauge the streaming capability.