Interview on X | Donald Trump received as a friend by Elon Musk

Donald Trump’s big comeback on X didn’t start as planned. Delayed by a “massive” cyberattack, the conversation he was supposed to have with Elon Musk still took place, allowing the Republican candidate to rehash his main campaign themes in front of a friendly and sometimes admiring host.

“It’s such a different place”: For two hours, Donald Trump tried to contrast a country that was thriving under his presidency with a place that was in decline after more than three years of Democratic rule. From illegal immigration to growing tensions in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine, the Republican repeatedly hammered home that his grip would have allowed the United States to maintain an enviable position in the world.

But on most of these issues, he says, the country performs rather poorly. “When I was [au pouvoir]”Iran knew not to do anything stupid,” the candidate said, for example. Then, speaking of his friendly relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he said that the “nuclear threat” had escalated since he left the White House.

Mr. Trump also claimed that as many as 20 million migrants had entered the United States irregularly, some of them from “prisons” or “asylums.” “Many are terrorists,” he also said.

Then the former president thundered: “We will have the largest deportation in the history of this country, we have no choice.”

An issue – border security – on which Elon Musk has taken a position in the past. The wealthy entrepreneur, followed by more than 193 million subscribers on X, has already put forward the theory that Joe Biden abolished the borders to secure new voters for his party.

During the broadcast, he argued that it was up to the United States to choose who it wanted on “Team America,” promoting his own immigration record. He did not fail to assure the Republican candidate of his support: “You are the path to prosperity.” He also spoke at length about the “courage” Donald Trump has shown after he was the target of an assassination attempt a month ago.

Mr. Trump, for his part, also lambasted his Democratic counterpart, Kamala Harris, whose record on security at the southern border he sharply criticized as vice president. “She’s incompetent, and I think she’s even more incompetent than [Joe Biden]that gives you an idea.”

Technical problems

The tech mogul had promised during the day an interview “without a predetermined script, without limits on the topics covered and [qui] should be very entertaining.”

However, the “conversation” scheduled for 8 p.m. was delayed due to a “massive” cyberattack, according to the boss of X. “There seems to be a massive DDoS attack [déni de service distribué] on X,” Musk wrote, as hundreds of thousands of users tried to tune in to the broadcast. When the interview finally began, Musk said the attack illustrated “the opposition of many people to hearing what President Trump has to say.”

In light of the little information that has leaked, Guillaume Clément, partner at KPMG, Cybersecurity Services, does not rule out the possibility of a cyberattack. This type of attack, he explains, aims to overload the service by sending thousands, even millions of requests, while “the average person only generates one.” They are usually done to “send a warning or to protest.”

However, Mr. Clement suggests that the live streaming platform used, Spaces, may not be up to par, as the X network is not known for this type of use. In this case, the high demand could be the cause of the technical glitches. “The [diffusion en direct]”It’s an art, especially when there’s a large volume. It requires a lot of expertise,” he says.

At the same time, fake broadcasts were rife on YouTube, where many channels – some pretending to be Tesla’s, for example – claimed to be broadcasting the interview between the two billionaires. In one of them, The Press noticed that a prominent QR code held out the promise of doubling listeners’ cryptocurrency.

European warning

Shortly before the interview on Monday, the European Union (EU) had warned Elon Musk, reminding him of the moderation obligations on the social network to avoid “the amplification of dangerous content” under the new legislation on digital services. A warning to which Musk responded with a degrading meme towards the European Commissioner for Digital Affairs, Thierry Breton.

Mr. Breton, for his part, assured that he would not hesitate to “use all the tools at [sa] arrangement […] if it were necessary to protect European citizens.” The EU “should mind its own business and not try to interfere with the US presidential election,” added Steven Cheung, Donald Trump’s spokesman.

During the broadcast, Musk referred to the letter from the EU, calling it an attempt at “censorship.” “I know the EU and they’re bad, and I’m letting them know,” Trump added.

With Agence France-Presse