Trump calls Kamala Harris 'phony', Elon Musk offers to host her on X

In an interview with Tesla owner Elon Musk, former US president Donald Trump launched an attack on Harris, saying US will 'go out of business' if she gets elected

Former US President Donald Trump participated in an interview with billionaire Elon Musk on Musk’s social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) today. The interview faced a rough start, being delayed by 40 minutes after Musk revealed that the platform was hit by a cyberattack.

The conversation covered a range of topics ahead of the upcoming US elections, including immigration, job cuts, the attempted assassination of Trump, and climate change. Amidst this, Musk extended an invitation to US Vice President Kamala Harris for a discussion on X Spaces.

Musk took to X to express his willingness, stating, “Happy to host Kamala on an X Spaces too.” His post has since garnered a variety of reactions online. The Trump campaign responded to Musk’s invitation with a folded hands emoji.

 

Trump’s criticism of Kamala Harris

During the interview, Trump criticised Harris, stating, “The number of illegal immigrants Kamala has allowed into our communities is far larger than we realise.” He continued, “Countries are emptying their prisons and sending them to our country, bringing crime and violence to our neighbourhoods.”

More than a million people tuned in to the audio-only conversation, which began over 40 minutes late due to technical difficulties. Musk, in a post on X, mentioned, “There appears to be a massive DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack on X. We’re working to shut it down. Worst case, we’ll proceed with fewer live listeners and share the conversation afterward.”

In a separate remark, Trump warned that the country “will go out of business” if Harris wins the 2024 US elections. He further criticised her by saying, “We don’t have a president right now, and Kamala is even worse. She’s a San Francisco liberal who destroyed that city, ruined California, and will devastate our country if she’s elected.”

Both Musk and Trump agreed that the crime rate in the US has risen due to the Biden-Harris Administration’s open border policy. Trump emphasised, “We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of this country. And we have no choice.”

Trump calls Harris ‘incompetent’

Continuing his harsh critique of Harris, Trump labelled her a “third-rate phony candidate” and reiterated his claim that replacing Biden with Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate was akin to a coup. Musk agreed, commenting, “Her behaviour is far left.” 

Trump said, “She had three and a half years, and they still have five more months to take action. But they won’t; it’s all talk.” He further stated, “She’s incompetent, and so is he (Biden). In fact, I think she’s more incompetent than he is, and that’s saying something because he’s not too good.”

Discussing the nation’s economy, Trump claimed that the US is experiencing its worst inflation in a century and blamed the Biden-Harris administration for the economic decline.

Kamala Harris’ response to Trump

In response, Harris’s campaign issued a statement on X, criticising Trump’s remarks. They stated, “Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda are central to his campaign, as was evident for those who listened to whatever that was on X.com tonight.”

They further added, “Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”