The Elon Musk and Donald Trump dumpster fire

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Support our nonprofit journalism]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     August 13, 2024 Did you catch the conversation between Elon Musk and Trump last night? If not: You didn't miss much. The much-hyped exchange took place on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk has owned since 2022. It started with a more than 40-minute delay due to a technical glitch that Musk and his acolytes tried to blame on a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which [did not appear to be true](. Once Musk and Trump finally got to talking, to an audience of about 1.3 million, they regurgitated familiar talking points, as my colleague Anna Merlan [wrote](: They railed against illegal immigration, and Trump repeated his promise to [enact "the largest deportation in the history of this country"](; Trump reiterated the proposal [laid out]( in [Project 2025]( to “close the Department of Education”; and Trump accused the Harris campaign of carrying out a "disinformation campaign" regarding her record on the border. (This, of course, is particularly rich given that, as I have covered, Trump recently [shared a manipulated video of Vice President Kamala Harris]( that got hundreds of thousands of views with the help of X. The video was [labeled]( "manipulated media" on X after I questioned the platform about it.) Trump also floated a new idea: a potential role for Musk in a second Trump administration. As Anna [wrote](: The conversation seems unlikely to move the needle for voters, but it did seem to preview a possible future partnership for Trump and Musk. Trump, seemingly in a reference to [mass layoffs]( Musk engineered at Tesla in April, complimented Musk on being “the greatest cutter,” and suggested he would be “very good” at cutting government spending. “I would be happy to help out,” Musk replied. [Read Anna's story]( to get the full recap on what went down. —Julianne McShane Advertisement [Slow and Sudden Violence]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Elon Musk’s Twitter Space With Donald Trump Was a Dumpster Fire]( A rocky night for X—but a great night for scammy AI. BY ANNA MERLAN SPONSORED CONTENT FROM THE NATION TRAVELS   US Civil Rights: On the Road to Freedom – Jackson, Little Rock, Memphis, Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery. February 9–16, 2025 [Join us as we visit the iconic sites of the civil-rights movement](, meet with people who were a part of history, and immerse ourselves in the spirit that continues to inspire today’s fight for justice and equality. [Trending] [I spent a week with Black MAGA. Here’s what I learned.]( BY GARRISON HAYES   [Kamala Harris could be just the kind of prosecutor the Earth needs]( BY JACKIE FLYNN MOGENSEN   [Disability advocates fear New York will gut a vital home care program]( BY JULIA MÉTRAUX   [As governor, Tim Walz has been an aggressive leader on climate action]( BY MARCUS BARAM Advertisement [Slow and Sudden Violence]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Trump may demonize migration from Venezuela, but he helped fuel it]( How the once-richest nation in South America suffered the biggest non-war economic collapse in modern history. BY ISABELA DIAS MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE   DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY You’re a Mother Jones Daily reader, so you know the stakes and you know reporting like ours matters so freaking much in these next few months (and beyond). About that: We need [the support of our newsletter readers like never before]( to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our targets and urgently need all hands on deck. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field. Please help with a donation if you can—even just a few bucks helps. A [monthly gift]( would be incredible. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Share it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755