On the evening of Monday, August 13, Caixin reported that the highly anticipated first live broadcast interview event between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on X platform finally began after a delay of more than 40 minutes due to technical difficulties. These two "super internet celebrities" on American social media also exchanged their views on several core topics of American public opinion.

At present, the interview has ended, lasting more than two hours.

The conversation between Trump and Musk comes at a critical moment in the 2024 US election, with less than three months until the final Election Day on November 5th. Current Vice President Kamala Harris has now replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee, and polling shows that she has erased Trump's lead in the summer and is far ahead in fundraising, which has been a challenge for Trump and the Republican campaign.

Currently, Musk's net worth of $227.3 billion still puts him at the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and his goal is to use his enormous wealth to support the Trump campaign. Musk has set up a new super PAC to back the Republican candidate.

Interestingly, during Trump's entire conversation with Musk on Monday, the former president's speech sounded unclear or unclear several times, causing online attention.

When asked if there was an explanation, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign team, said, "That may be your hearing problem".

So, what topics did the "world's richest man" and the "US presidential candidate" discuss in this interview event?

Musk shows loyalty: willing to play a role in the Trump administration

In this interview, Musk proposed that if Trump successfully wins a second term, he will play a role in his administration to help control government spending, indicating that the world's richest man is increasingly integrating himself into American politics.

"I think it would be great if we could have a committee for a government efficiency review, and really take a hard look at every dollar that's spent because I think it would be better spent just basically not spending it," Musk told Trump, "I'd be happy to help such a committee."

Trump responded by saying he would be "most willing" if Musk participated, and praised Musk as the "greatest cutter." He mentioned cost-cutting measures Musk took in his own company.

In May of this year, US media also reported that Musk and Trump had discussed the possibility of the billionaire playing a role in his government if Trump was reelected, but Musk denied the report at the time.

A report released by the US Treasury Department on Monday showed that the US government recorded a deficit of up to $244 billion in July, the second-highest in history for the same period, up 10% from the previous year.

Trump: It is unreasonable for the United States not to have high-speed rail

During his interview with Musk, Trump stated that it is "unreasonable" for the United States to not have high-speed rail.

"Bullet trains...it's fast, it's so comfortable, and there is no problem. And our country doesn't have anything like that, it is far behind," Trump said.

He suggested achieving this goal through high-speed tunnels, which is one of the ideas of The Boring Company, a company founded by Musk. The Boring Company aims to solve the problem of ground transportation congestion in the United States.

However, it is worth mentioning that during Trump's tenure in 2019, the US Department of Transportation canceled nearly $1 billion in subsidies for the California High-Speed Rail System.

Criticizing Harris and her running mate as "extreme left".

Elon Musk called the current US vice president Harris "extreme leftist", while former president Trump also said that his opponent in the 2024 election was a "radical leftist lunatic".

Musk said in a conversation with Trump: "They (Democrats) are rewriting history and making Harris sound like a moderate, but in fact, she is an extreme leftist, a very, very extreme leftist."

Trump interrupted, saying that Harris was "worse than Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from the progressive movement in Vermont".

"She is considered more liberal than Bernie Sanders, and she is a radical left-wing lunatic.If she becomes president, your country will soon cease to exist," the former president said.

Trump also attacked Harris' choice of Walz as her campaign partner and criticized the series of progressive policies the Democratic governor of Minnesota signed into law.

Elon Musk actually spoke kindly of the traditional energy industry.

In a rare defense of the oil and gas industry during a conversation with former President Trump, Musk said that a significant increase in carbon dioxide could lead to breathing difficulties, but maintaining current levels of greenhouse gas emissions could sustain it for decades. "It's not like the house is on fire (that urgent)," Musk said.

Musk is the world's most famous clean energy executive, so his comments are obviously stunning. Musk said that the clean energy industry and the working people who work for it should not be "demonized", and there is no need to take immediate action to replace fossil fuels. At the same time, Musk also defended his electric car business, which came under attack during Trump's campaign.

In response, Trump said on several occasions during an interview that "nuclear warming" poses a greater threat than "global warming".

This remark obviously caused many thoughts, but Trump later clarified that he was referring to "nuclear power is the biggest threat".

Musk disagrees with this view and defends nuclear power generation, believing that the safety of nuclear power generation is widely misunderstood. Musk said, "It's not as scary as people imagine."

Trump seemed to acknowledge this and suggested that nuclear power should be renamed. "You're right, maybe they should change their name, we'll use your name or something else to name it. There are cognitive issues with it," he said.

Trump reiterates: If elected, he wants to shut down the Department of Education.

Trump also reiterated his stance in an interview on Monday that if he is re-elected, he will shut down the US Department of Education.

Trump said one of his top actions is to "shut down the Department of Education and transfer power back to the states," adding "I guarantee you 35 states could do a really good job out of the 50."

"Some of these places are managed very badly, but you know, it almost forces them to manage better, they may not do well at first, but it won't be worse than it is now," he added.

Trump proposed the same idea in his campaign video last year, similar to other Republican goals during the 2024 Republican primaries to make shutting down the Department of Education a priority. But canceling the US Department of Education does not mean that states will have greater control over K-12 schools. Although federal agencies help presidents implement education policies, the power to establish curricula, build schools, and determine admission criteria is currently in the hands of state and local education boards.

Since his presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has been considering canceling the Department of Education. When Trump served as president, his government proposed merging the Department of Education and the Department of Labor into one federal agency as part of a larger government restructuring plan. The proposal requires congressional approval and has therefore never been implemented. When Trump was president, he also tried to cut billions of dollars from the Department of Education's budget.

Trump: Texas has done well in business.

Speaking of business, Trump harshly criticized California and praised Texas, also mentioning that Chevron has moved its headquarters from California to Houston.

Trump told Musk, "I saw you move from California to Texas. Texas did a great job."

Last month, Musk announced that his two companies, SpaceX and X, will also move to Texas.

Trump blames inflation on Biden.

Trump said that inflation and the border issue are the most concerning issues for people. "People want to know about the economic situation, and the fact that we can't afford groceries...inflation is killing them."

Trump also attributed the inflation crisis to current President Biden, a crisis that has left many Americans in trouble.

In mid-2022, US CPI briefly reached a peak of 9.1%, the highest level in over 40 years. "I think we're facing the worst inflation in 100 years. They say this is the worst inflation in 48 years. I don't believe it," Trump said.

Trump and Musk criticized the handling of the southern US border.

Trump and Musk also discussed immigration issues in detail on Monday.

Musk said that the US needs to limit illegal immigration and recounted his own trip to the southern border, saying that the people he saw there "didn't look friendly".

Trump repeated his past rhetoric-that other countries are sending criminals and mentally ill patients across the US border. He also blamed the border issue on Vice President Harris. The former president vowed that if elected, "we will conduct the biggest deportation operation in the country's history."

Trump again criticized Harris for "plagiarizing" his proposal to cancel the tax on tips.

Trump said, "Harris suddenly made a speech saying that tips should not be taxed. And I said that a few months ago."

At a rally in Las Vegas last weekend, Harris promised to push policies that benefit working families and cited the example of canceling the tax on tips in an attempt to win support from the large service workers union in the key battleground state of Nevada. Trump first proposed this idea in June in a campaign rally in Las Vegas and accused Harris of plagiarizing him.

"By the way, their approach is exactly the opposite. You know, they not only tax tips, but also hire 88,000 IRS agents, many of whom are assigned to collect tips from female waitresses and caddies," Trump told Musk.

Trump talks about the attack.

In this interview, Trump also talked with Musk about last month's assassination attempt against him.

When Musk asked how he felt about the shooting, Trump replied,"Not pleasant."

When talking about the moment when the bullet hit his ear, Trump said, "It was a heavy blow. It can be said that it feels surreal, but it's not. I told someone that there are situations that make you feel surreal. I've never felt that way before. I knew it was a bullet right away."

Musk said that one of the reasons he supported Trump's presidential campaign was the former president's reaction to the attempted assassination campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last month, and praised Trump for clenching his fist "very inspiring."

Trump added that his first question after stepping down was, "'How many people are killed?' Because there were crowds - thousands of people...So I asked, 'How many people were killed?' Because I know there were other gunshots."

The former president has vowed to return to the attacked city of Butler this October.

Editor/Somer