Former US President Donald Trump is all set to be interviewed by the owner of X, Elon Musk, this Tuesday morning IST. The Trump campaign touts the "interview of the century."
Musk, who had recently voiced his support for Trump's campaign to retake the White House, has announced to go ahead with the interview on the social media platform, earlier known as Twitter before it was acquired by Musk. The account of Trump was permanently suspended by Twitter in January 2021 for the very first time. Musk reversed the decision upon taking over the platform. Trump returned in August 2023 and made only one post. In the meantime, he remained quite active on Truth Social, which he created after the permanent ban of his Twitter account.
It's not clear if this interview will mark an uptick in Trump's usage of X, where he has 88 million followers, compared to 7.5 million on Truth Social. On the latter, according to its March 2024 IPO filings, Truth Social had only 5 million monthly active users, while X gives Trump a much larger audience—Musk claims it has 600 million monthly active users, though other estimates put the figure at around 540 million.
For Trump, who keeps track of the size of his event crowds, there would be a gaping difference between the substantial audience for X and the Truth Social. While Musk's support may signal a general ambiance of friendliness for the interview, the fact that Trump is both a showman and a wild card means it's going to have immense interest from his supporters and the Harris campaign.
The Trump campaign is really desperate for a shot in the arm because the dynamics of the presidential race of 2024 are shifting with President Joe Biden now out of the race and his endorsement of Kamala Harris. She did what few had anticipated: she breathed life into the Democratic party and fueled fund-raising, surging in polls not just nationally but in a couple of critical battleground states.
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