WASHINGTON — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is scheduled to interview Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the X social media network on Monday, an event that could deliver further surprises in a turbulent U.S. presidential election.
The interview, scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern time, could be a reprieve for the former president at a time when the campaign appears to be in a slump.
Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival in the Nov. 5 presidential election, has overturned Trump’s lead in the polls and energized Democratic supporters with a series of spirited rallies.
An interview on Musk’s social media platform could allow Trump to appeal to a different audience than the conservative supporters who attend his rallies or watch the interview on Fox News.
However, similar events on the platform plagued by technical problems.
“Prior to those discussions I will be running some system scaling tests tonight and tomorrow,” Musk wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The interview will be streamed live on Trump’s official X account, the Trump campaign announced Sunday.
Access to Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, had been suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, but was restored a month after Musk took ownership of X.
Trump frequently posts on Truth Social, a social media platform he launched in February 2022.
Since access was restored, he has only been back to X once. Post, open new tab Call for donations and unveiling of Fulton County Jail in August 2023 Mugshot.
Musk may be an unusual interviewer: The world’s richest man supported Democrat Joe Biden for President in 2020 but has since moved to the right, backing the Republican Party after the assassination attempt on Trump in July.
Musk, the president of electric car maker Tesla, also set up a fundraising group to support Trump’s campaign.
The political action committee is currently under investigation in Michigan for allegedly violating state law regarding the collection of voter information.
Trump, a longtime critic of electric vehicles, changed his tune after receiving Musk’s endorsement.
“I support electric vehicles. I have no choice because Elon has endorsed me so strongly. So I have no choice,” Trump said at a rally in early August.
Sean Fine, president of the United Auto Workers union, campaigned in support of Harris. He called Trump a “traitor.”
The Biden administration has been working to promote electric vehicles through tax breaks and other support as part of a broader goal of reducing carbon emissions blamed for climate change.
Republicans in Congress have opposed such subsidies, and Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, said Biden’s policies would only subsidize wealthy people who buy cars.
Human rights groups say that since Musk bought X in 2022, advertisers have fled the company and hate speech has increased dramatically as he has subsequently scaled back content moderation.
Meanwhile, the entrepreneur has been embroiled in further controversy.
He falsely accuses Biden and the Democratic Party of opening the U.S. border to illegal immigrants in a ploy to boost potential Democratic voters.
Foreign nationals cannot vote in federal elections.
Musk plans to launch the car in November 2023. X’s anti-Semitic posts They claimed that members of the Jewish community were inciting hatred against white people.
He defended himself by saying users were telling the “real truth.” Musk also attacked the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that fights anti-Semitism, accusing it of causing a drop in advertising for X without evidence.
