Former President Trump spent around two hours on Monday night talking with Elon Musk on X, discussing topics including his assassination attempt, U.S. relations with foreign adversaries, and the state of the 2024 presidential race. Here are five of the biggest takeaways from that conversation:
Trump Announces Return to Butler, Pennsylvania in October
Former President Trump mentioned during the interview that he plans to hold another campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, the city where his assassination attempt occurred in mid-July. “By the way, we’re going back to Butler, and we’re going to go back in October. We’re all set up — the people are fantastic in Butler, it’s a great area,” Trump told Musk. “These are incredible people.”
“I think I’ll probably start by saying, ‘As I was saying prior to being so horribly interrupted,'” Trump then joked, previewing how he would pick up where he left off on July 13.
Trump Shares the ‘Miracle’ of His Assassination Attempt
Trump told Musk that the “miracle” of his assassination attempt in Pennsylvania this summer was that he was looking in the “exact direction” of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks when he opened fire. “And so it hit me at an angle that was far less destructive than any other angle. So that was the miracle,” Trump said, recounting the path of the bullet that struck his ear. “That was — for those people that don’t believe in God, I think we got to all start thinking about that. You have to, you know, I’m a believer, now I’m more of a believer I think.” “It was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle,” Trump added.
Trump Says ‘We’re Going to Have the Largest Deportation in the History of This Country’
At one point during the interview, Trump told Musk, “We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of this country” and “we have no choice.” The remark came as the conversation was focusing on the challenges posed by illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. “We’re already overwhelmed Elon, we are overwhelmed,” Trump said. “And I saw an ad just before I got on the air… I saw an ad by Kamala saying how she is going to provide border security. Where has she been for three and a half years?” Trump said.
Trump Calls Biden the ‘Worst President in History’
Trump referred to Joe Biden, the current President of the United States, as the “worst president in history.” Speaking about the events that led to Biden dropping his re-election bid, Trump said Vice President Harris is “incompetent” and “as bad as Biden.” “Look she hasn’t done an interview since this whole scam started,” Trump said. “And say what you want, this was a coup. This was a coup of a President of the United States. He didn’t want to leave. And they said, ‘we can do it the nice way, or we can do it the hard way.’”
“Yeah, I mean they just took him out back behind the shed and basically shot him,” Musk responded. Trump cited the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, inflation, and the “Afghanistan mess” as some of his criticisms of Biden’s administration. “Now, Biden is close to vegetable stage, in my opinion,” Trump added during a later portion of the interview.
Trump Says He Wants to ‘Close Up’ the Department of Education
Trump told Musk that one of his “first acts” that he would do in a second presidential term is to “close up the Department of Education.” Trump said he would “move education back to the states where, states like Iowa, where states like Idaho, you know, not every state will do great because the states that basically aren’t doing good now, you look at Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, he, he’s terrible. He does a terrible job. So he’s not going to do great with education.” “But of the 50, I would bet that 35 would do great. And 15 of them, or, you know, 20 of them will be as good as Norway. You know, Norway is considered great,” Trump told Musk.
Trump says as it is right now, the U.S. spends “more per pupil than any other country in the world” despite being ranked further down on lists of countries with the best education systems
