After being largely absent from the platform since leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential candidate, returned to X, the website formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, where he published a series of campaign posts and returned for an “interview” with site owner Elon Musk.
Trump had made only one post on the site in his post-presidency career: he tweeted his August 2023 mugshot with a caption that falsely labeled the charges against him as “election interference.” His last post before that was on January 8, 2021 – two days after the attack on the Capitol carried out in his name – in which he stated that he would not attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Trump’s first post, ending his long dry spell at X, was a campaign video promoting himself and containing falsehoods about the allegations against him stemming from the White House’s removal of documents after he left the presidency to his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he keeps top-secret material in unsecured locations, including his office, ballrooms and bathrooms on the property. The video included audio of pro-Trump comments that erroneously described the allegations against him as prosecutorial “abuse” and a “dangerous and unstable” moment in U.S. history.
Trump then published at least ten more posts, mostly additional campaign videos and advertisements for his planned “Spaces” event for Monday evening, which Musk was to host. Observers suspected that more posts would follow.
“Monday’s numerous updates will probably not be his last. Rather, they mark the beginning of a more regular presence on the platform,” Semafors Shelby Talcott wrote.
However, as of Tuesday morning, Trump has not posted any further content on X, instead posting several messages on his own social media site, Truth Social. It remains unclear how often Trump plans to use X in the future, but it is safe to assume he will use it more frequently in the lead-up to the 2024 campaign season, as it was a key tool for him in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
Trump was long considered one of the most notorious users of X, when it was still called Twitter, even before he ran for president. He frequently shared his opinions on celebrities and culture in general, including political issues. Notably, he also spread political falsehoods, such as falsely claiming that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, a conspiracy theory called “birtherism.” As president, he continued to issue false tweets against his political opponents, such as his attacks on four congresswomen of color, using the common racist cliche of telling them to “go back” to their supposed homelands, even though they were all citizens and only one was born outside the United States.
Both Trump and Musk – the latter has promised to donate millions of dollars to help the former get elected – hyped up Monday night’s “X Spaces” event. However, that event was delayed for more than 40 minutes due to glitches on the platform. Musk initially claimed it was some kind of cyberattack. At one point, he agreed with a user that Democrats could be behind the problems, a claim that was not supported by any facts.
In fact, a source at X stated, The edge that such an attack apparently did not take place and that the probability that Musk was lying was “99 percent”.
The event itself was less of an interview, as it was advertised, than a promotion for Trump, with little to no pushback from Musk. In fact, the discussion was “largely a Trump monologue, not unlike his public rallies, with Musk occasionally jumping in with friendly questions on topics on which the two men generally agree,” according to a report by NBC News. The Washington Post further described Musk’s questions as “softball.”
The two discussed many topics from Project 2025, a wish list of ideas from the Heritage Foundation and other far-right groups that Trump tried (in vain) to distance himself from, apparently for fear of scaring away votes.
In one of his first policy statements during the event, Trump called for the dissolution of the Department of Education. The former president also applauded Musk for firing his striking employees. He and Musk also took turns speaking out against immigrants coming to the United States.
In true Trump fashion, the Republican presidential candidate continued to attack his political opponents, calling them “dangerous to our country” and exaggerating that if his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, wins the presidential election, “there will be no country left.”
Trump also used anti-Semitic phrases and mocked Jewish Americans who support Democratic politicians because they are not loyal to Israel.
Viewers noticed Trump slurring and lisping throughout the event. But aesthetic aspects of the Spaces event aside, observers felt the former president’s proposals were consistent with some of the most extreme parts of Project 2025, adding that characterizing the event as an interview was deeply problematic.
“It’s not an interview if the person asking the questions supports you and is a donor to your campaign,” CNNsaid Jim Sciutto.
“Trump talks nonsense and Elon Musk keeps agreeing with him as if his statements make sense. This is not an interview,” said linguist Paula Chertok.
“Trump’s Spaces just reminded us that Project 2025 is his best friend,” said Scott Dworkin, co-founder of the Democratic Coalition.
The Harris team also spoke out against Trump’s comments during the Spaces event, writing in a statement that his “extremism and dangerous ‘Project 2025’ agenda are a feature, not a bug, of his campaign. That was clear to see for those unfortunate enough to listen to the broadcast on X.com tonight.”
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself,” the campaign team added, describing the two as “self-centered rich guys who will betray the middle class and won’t even be able to host a livestream in 2024.”
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