Former President Donald Trump went on a two-hour tear of lies, exaggerations and fearmongering in a conversation Monday with billionaire Elon Musk on the X social media platform.
The chat between the two men, one the Republican nominee for president and the other the world’s richest man, is Trump’s latest effort to appeal to voters as Vice President Kamala Harris has continued to gain ground in the early days of her Democratic presidential bid. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said the event was meant to let people “get a feel” for what the former president is like when he’s having a casual conversation.
“It’s hard to catch a vibe when people don’t talk in a normal way,” Musk said.
Here are five notable moments from their conversation.
Trump repeated his lies about a migrant crisis on the southern border.
The former president shared familiar attacks against migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico, describing many of them as “rapists,” “murderers” and “criminals” while claiming countries such as Venezuela were emptying their jails to ship people to the United States.
There is no evidence to support those claims. In fact, recent research shows that immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than people who were born in the U.S. Other studies show that undocumented migration does not increase violent crime .
Trump also attempted to link the surge in migration to Harris, echoing Republican claims that she was the Biden administration’s “border czar.” She was tasked with investigating the root causes of the immigration wave, but claims about an all-encompassing role are exaggerations .
Trump bragged about his relationships with Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
At one point, Musk congratulated Trump for his “epic tweets” during his administration, including when the former president called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man.”
Trump poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 27, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“I know Putin, I know President Xi, I know Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I know every one of them,” Trump said. “I’m not saying anything good or bad. They’re at the top of their game. They’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country. Whether they love their country, they probably do. It’s just a different form of love, but they’re going to protect their country.”
Trump was the first president to meet with Kim, a decision critics said lended legitimacy to Kim’s authoritarian regime on an international stage.
Musk said critics shouldn’t ‘vilify’ the oil and gas industry.
Musk, whose mammoth fortune is largely tied to his electric vehicle company, said the world should “lean in the direction of sustainability” but not vilify fossil fuels because they’re needed to keep the world moving.
“I’m pro-environment, but I’m not against, I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry,” Musk said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk at his 2019 introduction of the electric Cybertruck.
Trump, for his part, made fun of those concerned about climate change and touted his efforts to open up a critical wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration during his administration. (President Joe Biden rolled back those plans.)
Trump is still obsessed with crowd sizes.
Trump repeatedly mentioned the sizes of his various audiences throughout the conversation. At one point he claimed that “60 million” people were listening to the livestream on Monday night, even though the count on X indicated 1.3 million listeners at its peak.
He also described the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, saying he had a “massive crowd” there. The size of the event, he said, made him worry how many people could have been killed. A bystander was fatally shot.
Trump sounded odd for a large portion of the call.
The former president sounded like he was slurring his words for a large portion of the conversation, although it’s unclear if the audio was to blame. Video of Trump speaking that was shared by an X employee appeared to show similar issues.
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