Trump returns to X, interviewed by Musk

After it was marred by technical glitches, the interview between former president Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on his X platform took place on Monday evening US time. Trump talked at length on some topics, such as the upcoming election, the Ukraine crisis, immigration, climate change and others, while Musk repeated his backing for Trump.

Musk also offered to interview US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on his X Spaces platform after his interview with Trump. 

The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which spanned more than two hours and was overwhelmingly friendly, revealed little new about Trump's plans for a second term. The former president spent much of the discussion focused on his recent assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations, according to the Associated Press. 

"If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now - as much as I like you," Trump told Musk.

Musk said the Republican nominee's toughness, as demonstrated by his reaction to last month's shooting, was critical for national security.

US media NBC News called the interview "largely a Trump monologue." It said that Trump and Musk, born in South Africa, bonded over their shared opposition to immigration, as both said that the US would cease being a real country if immigration continued at current levels.

During their talk, one topic of contention came up between the two - climate change, though Musk called it "global warming." Musk repeatedly advocated for sustainable energy during the chat, while Trump continuously stumped for fossil fuels, claiming instead he's more concerned about "nuclear warming," according to ABC news. 

In the hours leading up to Monday's talk, Trump's campaign played it up as "the interview of the century." He also posted a string of campaign videos, attacking Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, warning his followers about perceived threats from the political left.

Trump laments the fact that the US doesn't have bullet trains. "We don't have anything like that in our country. It doesn't make sense that we don't," he tells Musk.

In an analysis piece by CNN after the interview, it said that "at times, during their expansive chat, Musk seemed to be using the power of his profile and platform to coach Trump on how to mount a better argument against Harris."

Monday's interview also marked the first major re-appearance of Trump on X since Musk reinstated his account following his purchase of the platform in late 2022. 

Al Jazeera said on Tuesday that Trump returned to X as he attempts to recover from a rocky couple of weeks on the campaign trail.

During the interview, Trump then revisited a favored talking point about the amount the EU spends helping Ukraine vs US spending - but rather than promising to cut US aid, he appeared to suggest he wanted the EU to increase its own, according to US media Politico.

"I say, 'why aren't you going to equalize?' Why aren't they paying what we're paying?" Trump told Musk. "Why is the United States paying disproportionately more to defend Europe than Europe? That doesn't make sense. That's unfair, and that is an appropriate thing to address."

Before the interview, European Union Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote an open letter to Musk to remind the latter of his legal obligation to stop the "amplification of harmful content."

"As the relevant content is accessible to EU users and being amplified also in our jurisdiction, we cannot exclude potential spillovers in the EU," Breton said in a statement posted on X.

Breton added that "any negative effect of illegal content" could lead the EU to take further action against X, using "our full toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, should it be warranted to protect EU citizens from harm."

The online event, which was delayed 40 minutes after Musk cited a "DDOS attack" on X's servers, lasted nearly two hours.

XLab, one of the largest cybersecurity company in China, said that using its large-scale threat perception system promptly, it detected the recent attack targeting the X platform.

Gong Yiming, head of the laboratory, said they observed that four Mirai botnet controllers were involved in this attack. Additionally, other attack groups also participated using reflection attacks, HTTP proxy attacks, and other methods. 

Monitoring data indicates that the four botnet controllers launched at least 34 waves of DDoS attacks. The four command servers were primarily located in the UK, Germany and Canada. The attack period coincides with the delay in the interview start time, XLab said in its official WeChat account.