(AFP) – Donald Trump will be interviewed Monday live on X by its billionaire owner Elon Musk — an influential supporter — as the Republican ex-president rejoins the platform following a lengthy absence. Trump used the site, previously called Twitter, during his political rise and presidency, but was banned after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Musk reinstated Trump’s account after purchasing the platform in 2022, but the ex-president only returned to post once, preferring instead to share his unfettered thoughts on his Truth Social platform.
However, Trump on Monday has posted several times in the lead-up to his 8:00 PM (midnight GMT) talk with Musk, almost all campaign ads and links to his website. Musk, the world’s richest person according to Forbes, has emerged as a major voice in US politics, but is accused of turning X into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories. “This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!” the 53-year-old, who is also CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, posted in a preview of the interview on Sunday.
Trump is struggling to pivot in the face of surging enthusiasm and strong polls for Kamala Harris since she took over from President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate. Musk is one of the Democrats’ fiercest critics, leveraging his 194 million-strong following on X to assail liberal efforts to boost diversity and inclusion — what he calls the “woke mind virus” — and the White House’s handling of the southern border. He frequently spreads far-right misinformation about undocumented immigrants and voter fraud.
The conversation is expected to be convivial as the previously rocky relationship between the tech tycoon and the Republican nominee has been transformed, tracking Musk’s rise to hero status among young men aligned with Trump’s views. It is this audience, which does not watch rallies or tune in to conservative cable news, that Trump hopes to woo. Trump, 78, also took part in an interview last week with internet influencer Adin Ross — who has been repeatedly banned from streaming site Twitch for policy violations.
– ‘Greater responsibility’ –
Musk endorsed Trump last month, just minutes after the Republican narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally. The two have not, however, always seen eye to eye. The tech billionaire has been a US citizen for more than 20 years and has disclosed that he used to vote Democrat before turning against Biden, who is pro-union and did not invite the Tesla owner to a 2021 electric vehicle summit.
The company is juggling multiple federal investigations, giving Musk common cause with Trump, who faces more than a dozen felony charges over his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election. When Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he lifted the ban on the former president’s account. But he also endorsed Trump’s Republican rival, Ron DeSantis, hosting a glitch-ridden campaign launch on the platform. He has since become increasingly focused on priorities shared with the Republican hard-right, voicing anger over supposed censorship of conservatives and spreading inflammatory and false news stories about immigration.
Commenting on the recent riots in Britain, Musk claimed that “civil war is inevitable” and shared a false post about “detainment camps.” New analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate shows that Musk’s false or misleading claims about the US elections have been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X. The European Union, which is investigating X under laws requiring digital firms to properly police online content, wrote to Musk Monday to remind him of his legal duty to stop “harmful” material from spreading on the platform.
“With great audience comes greater responsibility,” the bloc’s top digital official Thierry Breton posted on the platform, along with the letter laying out Musk’s obligations to combat illegal content and disinformation under EU law. Musk mocked Breton, saying the official reminded him of a French character from 1975 British comedy movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” He then responded again, this time with a meme based on the 2008 US comedy movie “Tropic Thunder” that carried an obscene message.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung accused the EU of election interference and told it to “mind their own business.” “Let us be very clear: the European Union is an enemy of free speech and has no authority of any kind to dictate how we campaign,” he said.
– Frankie TAGGART
© 2024 AFP
