More than a million people listened to former President Donald Trump’s live conversation with billionaire Elon Musk on Monday night.
The nearly two-hour audio conversation was broadcast on Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, and drew upwards of 1.3 million live listeners. Trump promised bold change in a potential second administration and described his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, as a “radical left, San Francisco liberal.”
“What’s happening overnight is they’re rewriting history and making Kamala sound like a moderate when, in fact, she is far left, like far, far left,” Musk said.
“Worse than Bernie Sanders,” Trump responded. “She is considered more liberal by far than Bernie Sanders. She is a radical left lunatic.”
“If she’s going to be our president, very quickly, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump continued. “She’ll go back to everything she believes in. She believes in defunding the police. She believes in no fracking, zero.”
“I think we’re in massive trouble with a Kamala administration,” Musk said.
X broadcasted the event on its Spaces feature in a radio-like format. The live stream was delayed roughly 40 minutes due to technical difficulties, which Musk attributed to hackers.
The former president focused his campaign message on the contrast between the economy, immigration, and global affairs under his and Biden administrations.
“Five years ago, people were saving a lot of money,” Trump said. “Today, they’re using all their money and borrowing money just to live. And we’ll end that quickly.”
The RealClearPolitics aggregate of polling data shows Trump tied with Harris in the presidential race. Trump previously led President Joe Biden by three percentage points before he ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris.
Among Trump’s bolder policy proposals in the livestream was a plan to dissolve the Department of Education and reallocate power to the states in education. On immigration, he said his administration would issue the “largest deportation in history.”
“These countries are getting rid of nonproductive people in the caravans in many cases. And they’re also getting rid of their murderers and drug dealers and the people that are really brutal people,” Trump said. “They’re coming into our country at levels that have never been seen before.”
“I think this is a fundamental, existential issue for the United States,” Musk replied. “If we have another four years of open borders, it is going to be even worse than it has been the past three and a half years. I’m not sure we’re going to have a country anymore.”
Musk opened the conversation on the topic of the attempted assassination against Trump. The former president described the bullet that struck his ear as a “miracle” and praised his followers for remaining calm to avoid a deadly stampede.
“For those people who don’t believe in God, I think you have to start thinking about that,” he said. “I’m a believer, and now I’m more of a believer. It was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle.”
Trump said he would return to the site of the attempted assassination, Butler, Pennsylvania, in October.
Musk pleaded with listeners to support Trump in the campaign.
”You are the path to prosperity, and I think Kamala is the opposite,” he told the former president. “We’re at a fork in the road of the destiny of civilization, and I think we need to take the right path. And I think you’re the right path.”
