Staff Reports
Elon Musk recently took a short break from his world domination plans to host a two-hour chat with Donald Trump, tackling an impressive array of subjects that range from the southern border crisis to the foreign policy blunders of the current administration. If someone was looking for a good ol’ dose of straight talk mixed with a bit of humor, this was the event for them. Among Trump’s bold declarations during the sit-down was a promise to eliminate the Department of Education, a move sure to ruffle more than a few feathers among those who believe that centralized power should have a say in how children are educated.
Despite what was essentially a goldmine of information and ideas, the mainstream media greeted this engagement with their usual lackluster enthusiasm. They quickly focused more on the technical hiccups that delayed the show than on the content itself. Typical. Even with all the tech difficulties, which might as well have been a minor footnote, the event managed to be a notable success, leaving those who tuned in with plenty to talk about—except for the media, who would rather drown out real discussions with their own narratives.
What's interesting to me is that so many media outlets felt the need to write negative articles about the Trump/Musk @XSpaces interview. They obviously realize the now 149 million people who looked in (as of this writing) were actually interested. And now they feel the threat.… pic.twitter.com/yjvnbVdxT2
— Jim Pfaff (@jimpfaff) August 13, 2024
Predictably, the Kamala Harris camp didn’t take kindly to Trump hogging the spotlight, using the event more like an awkward blind date gone wrong, and they went straight to the “How do we profit from this mess?” strategy. In their effort to rally support, they flung around accusations of Trump’s extreme ideas while unwittingly showcasing their own melodrama, such as claiming that Trump and Musk represent a cadre of “self-obsessed rich guys” bent on selling out the middle class. Ironically, this outcry was dispatched through a platform that’s supposed to be so filled with misinformation that it will make your head spin—X.com, formerly known as Twitter.
Combined views of the conversation with @realDonaldTrump and subsequent discussion by other accounts now ~1 billion https://t.co/s8x8QmdmnY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
If Kamala’s team genuinely thinks Musk’s platform is a hotbed of misleading information, then why not take their show on the road to one of those alternative platforms like Threads or Bluesky? It raises questions about the authenticity of their outrage when they’re still cashing in on Musk’s technology with a verified account—clearly they’ll take a profit where they can while casting stones from their glass house.
Lastly, it’s rich for Kamala’s campaign to throw shade at anyone for engaging in media discussions, especially when Musk extended the invitation for her to join him for a chat as well. It’s almost as if they are too afraid to take their own medicine. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is relishing in the fact that they’re ready to engage with the public while the opposition seems content to hide behind social media posts and fundraising pleas. One might say that while Trump is out there hustling ideas, Kamala is left spinning tales about why she shouldn’t join the conversation.
