Musk-Trump interview | Here's what Trump said on Biden, assassination bid, climate change

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that Joe Biden was forced to drop out of the US Presidential race due to a “coup”.

In an interview with Elon Musk on X on Tuesday, Trump said, “I beat Biden so bad in the debate, he was forced out of the race - one of the greatest debate performances ever. Biden's exit, it was a coup.”

Incidentally, the interview was hit by major tech issues even before it could take off, forcing the billionaire entrepreneur to run it only for a small number of users as several others were unable to tune in. More than 1 million people were listening as the conversation started, according to a counter on X.

“Congratulations on breaking every record in the book,” Trump said, an apparent reference to the number of people who tried to tune into their conversation.

Praises Russia, China

The Republican nominee praised Russia, China and North Korea heads, saying that they are at the top of their game and the US needs a strong president to tackle them.

“(Vladimir) Putin, Xi (Jinping), Kim Jong Un are at the top of their game,” Trump said during the interview with Musk. He said that these leaders, who are often referred to as dictators, love their country, but "it is a different form of love".

Referring to Biden as "sleepy Joe", Trump also claimed Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if it hadn't been for Biden. "I got along with Putin very well, and he respected me. We would talk about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But I told him don't do it," he claimed.

On assassination bid

Trump recalled the moment he was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania last month and narrated the turn of events that followed.

Having survived the assassination bid with a bloodied ear, he said he's "more of a believer" now. "I knew immediately that it was a bullet. I knew immediately that it was at the ear...," he said as over a million listeners joined to listen to the 78-year-old former president. "For those people that don't believe in God, I think we all have to start thinking about that," he added.

He also pointed out that he turned his head at the "perfect angle", which saved his life.

"You know, I'm a believer. Now I'm more of a believer, I think. And a lot of people have said that to me. A lot of great people have said that to me, actually. But it was, it was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle," the Republican presidential candidate said.

Mocks climate change concerns

The former US President mocked concerns about climate change, suggesting that rising ocean levels would simply lead to “more oceanfront property.”

Interestingly, Musk didn’t counter Trump’s remarks. This assumes significance in light of the fact that Musk who famously left Trump’s presidential advisory councils in 2017 over the decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords. The Tesla CEO had earlier stated that “Tesla exists to help reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change, which affects all species on Earth. Even if your faith in humanity is faltering, this is worth caring about.”

However, Trump has softened his criticism of electric vehicles, citing Musk’s leadership of Tesla.

On shutting education dept

During the interview, Trump hailed the idea of Musk joining his next administration to help cut government waste even as the latter volunteered to join a prospective “government efficiency commission.”

“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I need an Elon Musk — I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”

Trump discussed his plan to dismantle the education department, a proposal that has garnered significant support from the evangelical Christian right. However, Trump also admitted potential drawbacks to his plan, stating, “If you moved education back to the 50 [states], you’ll have some that won’t do well. But they’ll actually be forced to do better, because it’ll be a pretty bad situation.”

Boost to Trump campaign

The interview could provide Trump an opportunity to seize the limelight at a time his Democratic rival for the US presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased his lead in opinion polls and energised Democratic voters with a series of high-energy rallies. The Trump campaign has called it the “interview of the century”.

"This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!" 53-year-old Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $235 billion, posted in a preview of the interview on Sunday.

Trump, 78, posted on X for the first time on Monday in more than a year ahead of the interview, sharing a campaign video in which he portrayed himself as the victim of persecution by forces seeking to “destroy” the United States.

Musk, one of the Democrats' fiercest critics, endorsed Trump last month just minutes after the Republican narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally.