United States Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump has returned to the social media platform X as he attempts to recover from a rocky couple of weeks on the campaign trail.
On Monday, he marked the occasion by sitting down for a chat on Spaces with platform owner Elon Musk, who has publicly endorsed Trump’s campaign for re-election.
The discussion eventually got underway about 40 minutes late after what Musk claimed was a “massive” cyberattack on the platform, previously known as Twitter.
He said the audience would be limited and a recording would be shared afterwards.
Over a rambling chat that lasted nearly two hours, the two men talked about Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the European Union, China, climate change, censorship and migration.
The Republican took the chance to talk at length on some of his pet topics and repeat claims he is the victim of a political vendetta, while Musk repeated his backing for Trump on multiple occasions.
After Trump claimed Harris was a “radical left lunatic” and “worse than Bernie Sanders”, Musk responded: “You must win the election for the sake of the country.” About 1.2 million people were listening in.
In the hours leading up to Monday’s talk, Trump’s campaign played it up as “the interview of the century”. He also posted a string of campaign videos, attacking Harris and warning his followers about perceived threats from the political left.
Trump’s campaign has taken a hit since Joe Biden stood aside for Harris leaving 78-year-old Trump the oldest candidate in the race for president.
Donald Trump speaks into a microphone at a podium labelled, “Trump Vance.” Around him, supporters wave campaign signs.
US Republican presidential nominee
The vice president and her running mate Tim Walz have re-energised the Democrat campaign, appearing at a string of rallies in recent days. Recent polls have given her the edge over Trump in key battleground states in the Midwest.
The Harris campaign was dismissive of the chat.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in 2024,” it said in a statement posted on X after Trump and Musk finished talking.
