After a nearly half-hour delay due to technical difficulties, the much-anticipated livestream interview between former President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk finally went live, covering a range of topics including the assassination attempt on Trump, immigration, inflation, and the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. However, the content of the interview quickly drew widespread criticism on social media, with many viewers expressing disappointment in the conversation.
On Musk’s own platform, X, and across other social media channels, commenters were quick to mock the interview, pointing out that Musk had little to contribute beyond agreeing with Trump’s often slurred and rambling statements. The anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project succinctly summarized the event by tweeting, “This could’ve been an email.”
Former Naval War College professor Tom Nichols echoed this sentiment, writing, “He’s just repeating his rally speech punctuated by Musk saying ‘yeah, yeah.‘” Many viewers felt that the interview lacked substance and was more of a monologue by Trump, with Musk merely nodding along.
Researcher and journalist Simon Hedlin added to the criticism, noting, “So far, the best part of this rambling Trump-Musk conversation has been the music they played before it started.” The lack of meaningful dialogue left many feeling that the live stream was a missed opportunity.
Former MSNBC contributor Mehdi Hasan highlighted one of Trump’s more bizarre statements during the interview, tweeting, “Trump just told Musk – again – that people are coming into our country from ‘mental institutions.’ He definitely, and hilariously/ignorantly, has confused political asylum with mental asylum.” This comment was just one of many that left viewers baffled by the discussion’s direction.
Some users noted the apparent disconnect between Musk and Trump during the conversation. The account “Business Goose” observed, “We are seeing Elon Musk lose respect for Trump in real time lmao,” while another user, @BltzkrgErlich, sarcastically commented, “Elon Musk is so good at saying ‘yeah’ to the President.”
The negative reactions continued to pour in, with @michelangelo_ pointing out a troubling aspect of the live stream’s audience: “Most liked a tweet on Elon Musk and Donald Trump chat: Nick Fuentes. A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi that had dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump. Sums it up perfectly.”
Overall, the Trump-Musk interview, intended to be a significant event, was widely panned as disjointed, repetitive, and lacking in meaningful content, leaving many to wonder what the purpose of the livestream really was.