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Donald Trump's advisers reportedly left Monday night's Elon Musk interview in a sour mood after listening to their candidate make a string of nonsensical comments. News outlets have reported that a number of Trump's Republican allies are encouraging him to speak on issues as a way to slow Kamala Harris' momentum, which has driven her into the lead in several swing states. Based on the Musk interview, especially its curtain-closing minutes, that message did not get through to Trump.
How did the Musk gig turn into such a dreary affair for Trump supporters? Hafiz Rashid, of The New Republic (TNR), explains, under the headline "Team Trump Fumes After Trainwreck Elon Musk Interview; Donald Trump sat down for a disaster of an interview with Elon Musk. Now his team is pissed." Rashid writes:
After Donald Trump’s bizarre livestreamed interview with Elon Musk Monday night, Kamala Harris’s campaign released a biting statement that touched a nerve with the Trump camp.
The statement called out the glitches with the livestream, as well as Trump’s extremism and association with the heavily criticized Project 2025. In response, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the Harris campaign “f***ing cowards.”
The Harris campaign's statement apparently caused the Trump Team to come unglued. Based on Cheung's comment, it also gave them a bad case of potty mouth. Here is the statement,:
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.
Harris must learn not to play so rough with Trumpers and their fragile psyches. What does Rashid make of the Harris statement and the impact it had on the Trump crowd? Here is his answer:
The statement is a sign the Trump team is likely fuming behind closed doors after a trainwreck interview on X. When the interview wasn’t facing technical glitches and Trump wasn’t slurring his words, the former president made one crazy statement after another. Trump said he’d welcome climate change because he thinks he’ll “have more oceanfront property,” praised Musk for firing striking workers, and told Musk that “if something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we’ll meet the next time in Venezuela because it will be a far safer place to meet than our country.”
Trump came back to X Monday, likely to help promote the livestream, after only posting once in the three years since January 2021, when he was banned from the platform for inciting violence during the Capitol insurrection. Musk helped promote Trump’s return, pushing new advertisements from Trump on the platform and elevating the hashtag #TrumpIsOnX ahead of the interview.
Trump’s posts on X came at the expense of his social media venture, Trump Media & Technology, which saw its share price plummet after the former president and convicted felon returned to the platform that banned him more than three years ago. But Trump is desperate after seeing his polling advantage disappear with Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election and Harris’ ascent.
The Harris campaign’s popularity has skyrocketed in the last month, and it experienced another boost after she chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Those close to Trump are worried about the campaign’s 2024 strategy, and the stable genius himself is going nuts over how well the Harris campaign is succeeding. Cheung’s response shows that even Trump’s inner circle is getting agitated.
It also shows that, like Trump himself, members of the inner circle have very little class.