Donald Trump gushes over 'greatest' Elon Musk for firing employees on strike in two-hour interview

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: In a two-hour-long conversation held Monday night, August 12, former president Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk engaged in a discussion that garnered both praise and controversy. At one point, Trump openly lauded Musk for his approach to dealing with employees.

The interview, conducted on X (formerly known as Twitter), took place in an audio-only format and began over 40 minutes late due to technical difficulties.

Donald Trump praises Elon Musk’s approach to dealing with employees

During the conversation, Donald Trump praised Elon Musk for his approach to dealing with employees, particularly in the context of firing those who voiced concerns about working conditions.

Trump’s admiration was palpable as he gushed, "I love it. You're the greatest ... I mean, I look at what you do. You just walk in and you just say, 'You wanna quit?' They go on strike, I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, 'That's OK, you're all gone ... Every one of you is gone.'"

Musk responded with a chuckle, prompting Trump to further compliment him, saying, "You are the greatest! You would be very good [on the proposed commission]. Oh, you would love it."

The exchange quickly caught the attention of critics. Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign team was swift to react, sharing a clip of the moment on X even before the interview had concluded.

The Harris campaign noted Trump’s praise for Musk’s handling of striking workers, framing it as a clear indication of the former president’s disregard for labor rights. "Trump praises billionaire Elon Musk for firing workers who were striking for better pay and working conditions," they wrote.

Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for Harris, later issued a statement that mocked both Trump and Musk. He characterized them as "self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class" and derided their inability to run a smooth livestream in 2024.

Elon Musk has faced scrutiny in past for his labor practices

The details of the specific incident Donald Trump referred to during the interview remain unclear. Although Trump alluded to a mass firing that took place after employees went on strike, he did not specify the company involved.

Musk, who owns several high-profile companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and the Boring Company, has faced scrutiny for his labor practices in the past. For instance, Musk once threatened to revoke stock options from Tesla employees if they chose to unionize.

This, among other actions, has led to interventions from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), further cementing Musk’s controversial reputation in relation to worker rights.

Shortly after Musk acquired Twitter, he initiated widespread layoffs, cutting approximately half of the company’s workforce. This included at least one employee who accused Musk of enforcing a right-wing bias on the platform.

The Monday interview’s late start was attributed to what Musk described as a "massive DDOS [distributed denial of service] attack on X." However, this claim was met with skepticism by cybersecurity experts, including the watchdog group NetBlocks.

They pointed out that DDOS attacks typically affect entire websites, yet outside of the Spaces page where the interview was hosted, X appeared to be functioning normally. This discrepancy led to doubts about Musk’s explanation, raising questions about the platform's reliability under his leadership.

Donald Trump labels Joe Biden’s departure from presidential race a 'coup'

Throughout the interview, Donald Trump remained characteristically bold, reiterating several eyebrow-raising claims. He described President Joe Biden’s departure from the 2024 presidential race as a "coup," attributing it to what he deemed one of his best debate performances.

"I beat Biden so badly in the debate that he was forced out of the race—one of the greatest debate performances ever. Biden's exit was a coup," Trump insisted.

The interview also touched on more personal topics, including an assassination attempt against Trump.

Recounting the experience to Musk, Trump reflected on the surreal nature of the event. "It was a hard hit. It was very, I guess you would say, surreal, but it was not surreal. You know, I was telling somebody, you have instances like this where you feel it's a surreal situation. And I never felt that way. I knew immediately that it was a bullet," he said.

In terms of audience engagement, the interview drew significant attention, though the exact numbers were subject to debate. Trump claimed that Musk had "broken every record in the book," with between 1 million and 1.4 million listeners tuning in at most points.

However, Spaces reported a total of 2.1 million listeners after the event concluded—a figure that, according to Newsweek, falls short of a record for Trump interviews. Nevertheless, Musk shared data suggesting that the interview garnered 73 million views.

"Between 7:47 pm and 10:47 pm ET, Ex-President Donald Trump's Space post received 73 million views. During the same period, there were 4 million posts about Elon Musk and President Trump's conversation on X, generating a total of 998 million views," the main X account posted.

Reposting the same, Musk quipped, "Almost all of the legacy media will trash the Trump conversation, thus driving total listeners probably past 200 million."

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