• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 12, 2024

A distributed denial-of-service attack on X's livestreaming service Spaces delayed the interview between X owner Elon Musk and former U.S. president Donald Trump by about 45 minutes on Monday evening.

The discussion was less of a formatted interview and more of a conversation between the two men. When they finally spoke about the issues surrounding climate change, budgets and reining in U.S. spending, it became clear that Musk has political aspirations and ambitions to join Trump’s team.  

“We need a government efficiency commission,” Musk said, to determine that taxpayer money is spent in a positive way, and so the U.S. can operate and “live within our means.”

Musk, who formally endorsed Trump following the assassination attempt, said he would participate in a government efficiency commission, in which the former president agreed. 

The Wall Street Journal in May reported that the two men had discussed a possible advisory role for Musk if the presumptive Republican nominee is elected.

Trump and Musk had a frosty relationship for years, but recently held talks on topics including immigration, technology and science, including the U.S. Space Force.

And while Monday night's discussion was intended to highlight Trump’s views on what it would be like to live in the U.S. during the next four years if he is elected, Musk shared many of his own views on policies with regard to issues including climate change and challenges around diminishing CO2 levels.

Musk said it is important to “lean in the direction of sustainability without vilifying the oil and gas industry,” and talked about how solar will become an option for energy. “Nuclear is underrated as an energy source,” he said.

The two also spoke about immigration -- a focal point for Trump's campaign. Musk, who moved from South Africa to the U.S. in 1992 to study business and physics, said most people who enter the country “are actually good, hard-working people” but added that some are not. He said that a country with open borders cannot be considered a country. 

Trump spoke about the U.S. education system and how it ranks at the bottom of a worldwide list, adding that Norway is one of the top countries for education.

To fix education in the U.S., Trump said, he would close the U.S. Department of Education and move the responsibilities for education from federal government back to the states -- similar to how women's reproductive rights returned to the states from federal law.