Musk shakes hands with Trump in new chapter between far right and big tech

A new chapter between Big Tech and the far right will be written on Monday night (12), when former president and Republican candidate for the White House, Donald Trump, will be interviewed by his ally, tycoon Elon Musk, in a live broadcast on the social network X.

It will be “unscripted and open-ended, so it should be a lot of fun,” Musk wrote on Sunday, who since acquiring X – formerly Twitter – has been accused of using the social network as a platform for far-right conspiracy theories.

The Republican candidate was banned from the platform for nearly two years after the storming of the US Congress on January 6, 2021, when Twitter had not yet been purchased by Musk.

The interview, scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern time, could offer the former president an opportunity to gain prominence at a time when his campaign is seen as in decline. His Democratic rival for the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased Trump’s lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of rousing rallies.

The interview, scheduled for 8pm Eastern Time (0000 GMT on Tuesday), could offer the former president an opportunity to gain prominence at a time when his campaign is seen as in decline.

His Democratic opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased Trump’s lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of rallies in swing states.

Musk has recently sought to influence public debate in a number of discussions around the world. Riots in the UK, the Venezuelan presidential election, and Germany’s handling of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are just three recent examples of how the billionaire has gotten involved in political debates in other countries.

In Brazil, Musk called Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes the “dictator of Brazil” after the judge ordered the billionaire to be included as a suspect in the inquiry into the actions of digital militias that threaten democracy. Moraes pointed out that he saw evidence of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime in Musk’s actions.

In early August, Musk clashed with the British government by suggesting on X that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, following attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.

After a British government spokesman rebuked his comments, saying there was “no justification” for Musk’s remarks, the billionaire doubled down on his attacks, suggesting that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and British police have treated white far-right protesters more harshly than minorities in the country.