Following the much-hyped return of Donald Trump to the platform formerly known as Twitter, the former President joined X owner, Elon Musk, for a conversation, however, the event suffered technical issues that took it off track.
The event, billed by Trump’s campaign as the “interview of the century,” was scheduled to begin at 1am on Tuesday (Nigerian time). However, listeners were met with error messages and lo-fi techno music for nearly 45 minutes before the conversation finally commenced.
Musk attributed the delay to a “massive DDOS attack” on X, claiming opposition to Trump’s voice being heard. However, sources within the company disputed this claim, with one staffer suggesting there was a “99 percent” chance Musk was not being truthful about the attack.
When the conversation eventually began, it drew an audience of approximately 915,000 listeners. The wide-ranging, two-hour discussion covered topics including immigration, climate change, and the upcoming presidential election, with Trump dominating much of the dialogue.
Notably, Musk appeared to soften his stance on several issues that directly affect his businesses, particularly regarding energy policy and climate change. The Tesla CEO expressed more moderate views on oil and gas industries, diverging from his usual pro-electric vehicle stance.
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The event comes at a crucial time for Trump’s campaign, which has faced challenges since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. Recent polls show Harris leading Trump in key battleground states, adding pressure to the former president’s re-election bid.
Trump returned to X on Monday morning, where he posted for the first time since January 2021 when he was banned from the platform. He had then promoted the conversation with Elon Musk, as well as other promotional campaign posts. Since his ban from X (formerly Twitter), Trump, who was notable for his activeness on Twitter, restricted his online activities to his social media platform, Truth.
This X Space mishap echoes a similar incident last year when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign announcement on the platform was derailed by technical issues.
