Musk and Trump's Peak Dialogue: Assassination Attempt, Illegal Immigration, Biden's Withdrawal from the Election

Source: BBC

Compiled by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

August 13, 2024, is a day that can be recorded in Twitter's history—Trump appeared alongside Musk in a Twitter Space, reportedly with over 1 million participants in the Space event. However, the conversation between the two did not start smoothly, as there was a small hiccup—Twitter seemed to face technical issues, with users reporting difficulties accessing the event. X platform data showed that 2 million people were watching the live interview with Trump and Musk, but the live details could not be displayed. In response, Musk tweeted, "X seems to be suffering a large-scale DDOS attack," referring to a distributed denial-of-service attack. He added, "We tested the system earlier today with 8 million simultaneous listeners."

But the flaws did not overshadow the highlights, as the two discussed topics such as the assassination attempt on Trump, illegal immigration, Biden's potential withdrawal from the election, Harris's refusal to give interviews, the desire to abolish the Department of Education, criticism of California's governor, and electric vehicle policies.

The content of the peak dialogue between the two giants is compiled as follows for readers.

Musk: The cyber attack indicates that there are people in the U.S. who oppose Trump

After the Twitter Space resumed, Musk first mentioned the distributed denial-of-service attack, stating that it "saturated all our data lines." The so-called cyber attack indicates that there are people in the U.S. who oppose hearing Trump's opinions. The interview was informal, aimed at helping "open-minded, independent voters who are trying to make up their minds."

Trump: Congratulates Musk and mentions the assassination attempt

Then, Trump's voice was heard. Trump first congratulated Musk for "breaking all records," referring to the large audience for this event. It is unclear what records he was referring to.

Currently, the X interface shows about 1 million listeners.

Elon first asked Trump about the assassination attempt when Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Trump laughed and said it was "not pleasant," then detailed his experience.

Trump: Hopes the interview helps gain greater political momentum

Elon Musk opened by stating that this was an opportunity for open-minded voters to understand what it feels like to talk to Donald Trump. However, Musk showed favoritism—his tone clearly indicated he supported Trump and reaffirmed his support. The Twitter Space showed Trump as the host and Musk as the co-host, so we know who holds the power.

Trump hopes this interview will help him gain greater momentum after President Biden's withdrawal and Vice President Kamala Harris's revitalization of the Democratic base. However, Musk had to apologize for such a late and awkward start. So there was no room for victory.

At the Republican National Convention, we were told that Trump had changed and would adopt a new unifying tone. This did not fully materialize.

Trump also stated that he might never talk about the assassination attempt again—but that was the only issue he discussed in depth so far.

Trump said it made him believe in God more than ever—which is undoubtedly music to the ears of his religious followers.

Trump also praised the female Secret Service agent who was with him that day. Musk remained silent about the fact that this agent faced significant criticism on X, including from Musk himself. He questioned her capabilities and why she was hired.

How many illegal immigrants entered the U.S. during Biden's presidency?

Trump claimed: He has turned to immigration issues, one of his main campaign topics that helped him launch his presidential campaign in 2016.

The Republican presidential candidate claimed without evidence that immigrants came from "mental hospitals" around the world.

"Millions pour in within a month, and she stands up pretending to do something," he referred to Kamala Harris. He claimed there are 20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

During President Biden's tenure, it is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrants crossed into the U.S. from the southern border, but official data shows that the actual number is lower than what Trump previously claimed.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated that since January 2021, U.S. law enforcement has had 10.5 million encounters with illegal immigrants, with over 8 million crossing the southern border.

It is worth noting that the same person may attempt to cross the border multiple times.

Compared to the four years of Donald Trump's presidency, this number has significantly increased overall and is the highest record in U.S. government history.

Since Biden introduced regulations in early June limiting border crossers' rights to seek asylum, the number of arrests for illegal crossings has sharply declined.

In July, U.S. Border Patrol arrested about 57,000 immigrants at the border, the lowest number since September 2020.

This number has significantly decreased compared to December when about 250,000 immigrants were arrested while crossing.

Trump plans to return to the shot city of Butler

Trump stated that he plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, for another campaign event, as the last campaign event was abruptly halted due to gunfire.

Donald Trump joked that he would start his next speech in Butler with "As I said…"

"Before you were rudely interrupted," Elon Musk quipped.

Trump accuses Biden of invading Ukraine

Trump claimed that if it weren't for Biden, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine.

Musk did not refute this claim and told Trump he made "a very good point."

"I get along very well with Putin; he respects me," Trump said, adding that he used to talk to Putin frequently.

He then described an experience where he allegedly advised Putin not to invade Ukraine.

"We would talk about Ukraine. It's his jewel. But I told him not to do it," he claimed.

"He said 'no way,' and I said 'yes,'" Trump said.

Trump has always said he "understands" Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"They are both smart and ruthless," he said.

"When they see Kamala or sleepy Joe, they can hardly believe it," he said, mispronouncing the vice president's name.

Trump wants an Iron Dome defense system

"Why shouldn't we have an Iron Dome defense system? Israel has one," Trump said.

His comments referred to Israel's missile defense system, which can destroy short-range weapons fired at the country.

The Iron Dome was developed after Israel's conflict with the militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in 2006.

It was created by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries with some support from the U.S.

Trump: Biden's withdrawal is a coup

This was much like Donald Trump presenting a long list of grievances to Elon Musk, while Musk patiently and sympathetically listened.

He mourned Biden's withdrawal from the election again, clearly wanting a rematch with Biden.

He said, "This is a coup; this is a coup against the President of the United States," referring to Kamala Harris taking Biden's place in this election.

Previously, he called it unconstitutional. These statements are inaccurate, but interestingly, Trump has never accepted the fact that he lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

This may be the closest we have seen him acknowledge the truth: Biden legitimately won the White House.

Trump criticizes Harris for not giving more interviews

Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris for not giving any lengthy interviews since she received the Democratic presidential nomination, unlike what he said he is doing now.

"It's great to have such a forum," Trump said.

Speaking of Biden, he said, "When you think of someone who makes a living this way and can't answer questions or is afraid to give interviews, you feel very sad," even though the president had given an interview to ABC's CBS just days before.

Musk continued to claim that Harris would not accept his interview.

While Harris has regularly held large rallies, she has not given any major media interviews since entering the presidential race.

Harris-Walz campaign team: Musk is Trump's "lapdog"

As this interview unfolded, the Harris-Walz campaign team sent out a fundraising appeal to supporters.

The theme was: "Tonight, the two worst people you know will be online."

"Musk's promise to donate millions to help Trump get re-elected is not enough. He is using the platform he bought—one of the largest social media sites in the world—to spread Trump's crazy and hate-filled agenda to millions of users," the campaign email claimed, italicizing the word "millions." It called Musk Trump's "lapdog."

Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign team also used Trump's own social media platform Truth Social to continue attacking him during this interview.

Is Trump's tax cut the largest in history?

Trump claimed: In his conversation with Musk, he stated that his administration provided the largest tax cut in history for the American people.

Note: Donald Trump did implement significant tax cuts during his presidency, but they are not the largest in history. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 significantly reduced taxes. Unless the next administration extends these measures, they will expire in 2025.

According to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's external tax cuts are the eighth largest since 1918 when measured as a percentage of the economy (GDP) and the fourth largest in dollars since 1940 (adjusted for inflation).

While Trump did not introduce the largest overall tax cuts, he did pass the largest corporate tax cuts in U.S. history. The 2017 law reduced the rate from 35% to 21%.

This is higher than the tax cuts passed during Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s, when the rate was reduced from 46% to 34%.

At the end of June, Trump told Bloomberg that he supports further reducing the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%.

Trump wants to abolish the Department of Education

"I want to close the Department of Education and return education to the states," Trump stated, calling for the abolition of the federal agency.

He said, compared to peers around the world, American students are falling behind.

He claimed, "Abolishing the Department of Education has many benefits," asserting that it would reduce education costs by half.

The plan is similar to Project 2025, a conservative wishlist that Trump's campaign team has been reluctant to embrace.

It also reflects the Republican platform established at last month's Republican National Convention.

Trump criticizes California's governor

Donald Trump harshly criticized California's leadership, calling it "mismanaged."

He also gave California Governor Gavin Newsom an offensive nickname in typical fashion and criticized his educational record.

But California is a Democratic-controlled state with abortion rights and strict gun control laws, so Trump's attacks are not surprising.

Governor Gavin Newsom also fearlessly expressed his views on Donald Trump, previously describing him as "a bit deranged."

Is Musk seeking a position in the Trump administration?

In the latter half of this interview, Elon Musk seemed to be vying for a position in the Trump administration.

He expressed willingness to help Trump hold the government accountable for spending, possibly to help establish a government deficit committee. Trump said he hopes Musk will be involved.

U.S. media reported as early as May that Trump had been considering offering Musk a government advisory position if he wins.

Musk praised Trump throughout this interview and agreed with his views, which may be mutual: a Trump interview, a very public interview for Musk.

How many miles of border wall did Trump build?

Trump claimed: Trump told Musk that he built hundreds of miles of wall to protect the southern border during his presidency.

Note: The length of the border wall built during Trump's presidency depends on what you measure, but even including new sections and those replaced or reinforced, the total length is less than 500 miles. A report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection states the total length is 458 miles (external). However, only 85 miles of entirely new wall sections were built during Trump's presidency.

The rest were either replacements or reinforcements of existing barriers.

As Trump's presidency was coming to an end, the BBC investigated the status of the border wall.

President Biden paused construction after taking office, but last year his administration allowed a section of wall to be built in southern Texas to curb the rising number of immigrants.

Musk talks about climate, Trump turns to "nuclear warming"

Musk said he hopes to create a positive future and talked about addressing global warming, as well as the expected rise in sea levels by an eighth of an inch over the next few hundred years.

He seemed to advocate for the shift to renewable energy that Democrats have been pushing for years.

Donald Trump: The biggest threat is not global warming. He said it is nuclear warming.

Musk laughed.

Trump: "No, really."

Trump said five countries have nuclear power. In reality, there are nine: the U.S., the U.K., Israel, France, Russia, China, Pakistan, India, and North Korea.

Trump criticizes Harris's campaign partner for enacting a tampon law

Trump claimed that Harris's campaign partner, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, signed a law allowing schools to place tampons in boys' restrooms in public schools.

This state law, enacted last year, did not specify which restrooms could use tampons. It merely stated that tampons should be provided for anyone who menstruates.

Republicans harshly criticized this law, calling Walz "Tampon Tim."

Meanwhile, Walz embraced the nickname and stated he was proud of his work to provide menstrual products for free.

Electric vehicle policy reversal

Former President Trump stated at a rally last weekend that after Elon Musk supported his presidential campaign, he had "no choice" but to change his attitude toward electric vehicles. He told attendees, "I support electric vehicles; I have to support them because Elon supports me very strongly."

In this interview, Trump talked about Tesla cars and praised the technology. Musk also told Trump he hopes to shift to sustainable energy.

At the Republican National Convention, Trump vowed to significantly cut the regulations aimed at promoting electric vehicle adoption on his first day in office.

Out of concern for American auto workers' jobs, he opposed a massive shift to electric vehicles. However, he also stated that electric vehicles themselves are "expensive" and "don't go far enough." Nevertheless, according to a 2015 article in The Washington Post, this did not stop him from owning an electric vehicle. The article cited his campaign team stating that one of the two American cars in his fleet at the time was a Tesla.

Musk re-supports Trump, but some Tesla fans and customers are not pleased.

Last week, a German company announced it would stop purchasing Tesla cars for its fleet due to Musk's comments being "inconsistent" with what Tesla represents.

Twitter Space is Trump's "safe space"

Rather than an interview, it was more of a casual conversation—Musk was very flattering and did not refute some of Donald Trump's baseless claims about immigration.

He often stated without any evidence that other countries deliberately send violent and terrible criminals.

Musk did indeed raise some slightly opposing views, saying immigration could be a good thing, but he quickly acquiesced to Trump's perspective.

Immigration is the strongest issue for Trump in the minds of voters. He follows Kamala Harris on this issue, calling her a failed "border czar," even though as vice president, her duties are more focused on the drivers of immigration from Central America.

About Musk's political preferences

I wonder if independent voters have gained new insights into Donald Trump so far—if that was their goal.

Those who love him will still love him, and vice versa. But perhaps we have gained more insight into Elon Musk.

He said he likes strong leaders, and when Trump spoke fondly of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Musk said it was cool that Trump met with him.

Trump and his vice presidential pick JD Vance have given many interviews, emphasizing that Harris and Walz have not done so thus far.

Trump said Kamala Harris would never talk to Musk like this, even though it was not an interview anyway.

Given that Musk referred to Harris as an "extreme left radical" and wholeheartedly supports Trump, he clearly would not be as lenient with her as he is with Trump.

The nature of the interview: Musk does major promotion for Trump

Musk briefly stated that he usually does not care about politics but also mentioned that he once queued to shake hands with Barack Obama.

He stammered that America is at a crossroads, but he did not elaborate much before saying he thinks independent voters should vote for Donald Trump.

Thus, it proves that Musk is not interviewing a major political candidate but merely using his platform to do significant promotion for Trump.

Space's listenership is not as high as previous major events

About half an hour into the chat, X's own data showed that 1.2 million people were listening to the live conversation.

In contrast, last year when Musk helped launch Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign on Twitter Spaces, the number of live listeners peaked at around 300,000.

Compared to the television broadcasts of several other significant events during this campaign, today's numbers are negligible.

According to Nielsen ratings, over 51 million people watched the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June.

Last month, 28 million people watched Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention.