Elon Musk and Trump break the internet, but is it enough?

Read my full column on the Washington Examiner website.

Former President Donald Trump returned Monday night to X, the platform that has provided us with the philosophical contributions future generations will remember as “Trumpisms,” including my personal favorite, “I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.”

Such nuggets of genius seem out of place, given Trump’s modern preference for ALL CAPS on Truth Social.

Trump celebrated his return to the social media platform with a candid and unscripted conversation with X owner Elon Musk, who recently endorsed Trump for president. The pair spoke for about two hours after grappling with technical difficulties, and they explored a wide range of topics, including the assassination attempt on Trump, green energy, immigration, and the economy.

Despite the conversation’s undeniable popularity — it amassed more than a million listeners at its height, 73 million total views across a three-hour span, and almost a billion views of related content — the legacy media acted as if it was equivalent to Adolf Hitler returning from the dead and immediately joining Instagram to sell his new line of form-flattering pants for weight-positive genocidal millennials.

“Trump rambles, slurs his way through Elon Musk interview. It was an unmitigated disaster,” said USA Today, for example.

“Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on X.com. Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024,” said a statement, which appears to have been written by a child who has yet to discover punctuation, released by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Nothing says I’m “not self-obsessed” more than also running for office.

Setting aside this kindergarten-level clapback from the remaining members of Harris’s team who have yet to resign because of their abusive boss, here are three takeaways for the adults in the room.

First, media gatekeepers are changing, and the legacy media can’t stand it. In the old days, a small collection of media companies had complete control over what you read, what you listened to, and what you watched. Then, social media platforms came along, but after a few years of mob-like encouragement, they quickly fell in line. Then Musk arrived and dared to walk in the opposite direction, and there is no greater crime in modern America than standing in opposition to the regime.

Second, it’s obvious that this is all about power. Musk should be a hero of the Left: He’s single-handedly keeping the electric vehicle industry on the road, he’s providing internet access to millions across the world, and he’s an immigrant who was born in Africa. So why do leftists hate him? Because your identity doesn’t matter, and neither do your deeds if you refuse to bend the knee. They loved Trump, including his personality flaws and sexual misbehavior, when he was a Democrat. If Musk suddenly endorsed Harris, they’d change their tune faster than the media did on Harris herself.

Third, none of this really matters right now. Sure, it’s exciting in the world of social media that long-form, podcast-style conversations are taking root as part of the political landscape. And one million listeners will certainly help Musk’s marketing plans for growing X. But will this change the election? Probably not.

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