Donald Trump recounted his assassination attempt in vivid detail and promised the largest deportation in US history during a high-profile return to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — a conversation that was plagued by technical glitches.
“If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now — as much as I like you,” Trump told X’s owner Elon Musk.
Musk, a former Trump critic, said the Republican nominee’s toughness, as demonstrated by his reaction to last month’s shooting, was critical for national security.
“There’s some real tough characters out there,” Musk said. “And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they will do what they want to do.”
The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which was overwhelmingly friendly, revealed little that’s new about Trump’s plans for a second term. The former president spent much of the conversation discussing his recent assassination attempt and illegal immigration.
Still, the meeting underscored just how much the US political landscape has changed less than four years after Trump was permanently banned by the social media platform’s former leadership for spreading disinformation that sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress and undermined the very foundation of the American democracy.
Such disinformation has thrived at X under Musk’s leadership.
The session was also intended to serve as a way for the former president to reach potentially millions of voters directly. It was also an opportunity for X, a platform that relies heavily on politics, to redeem itself after some struggles.
It did not begin as planned.
With more than 878,000 users connected to the conversation more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, the interview had not yet begun. Many users received a message reading, “Details not available.”
Trump’s team posted that the “interview on X is being overwhelmed with listeners logging in.” And once the meeting began, Musk apologized for the late start and blamed a “massive attack” that overwhelmed the company’s system.
Trump supporters were openly frustrated.
“Not available????? I planned my whole day around this,” wrote conservative commentator Glenn Beck.
“Please let Elon know we can’t join,” billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted.
Ahead of his conversation, Musk posted on the platform that X was conducting “some system scaling tests” to handle what’s anticipated to be a high volume of participants.
The rocky start was reminiscent of a May 2023 social media conversation between Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor was using the social media platform as a way to officially announce his presidential bid, a disastrous rollout marred by technical glitches, overloaded by the more than 400,000 people who tried to dial in.
Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, noted that Trump mocked DeSantis at the time.
“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” Trump wrote in a message reposted by Harris’ campaign Monday.
Monday’s meeting also highlighted the evolving personal relationship between Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most powerful men, who have shifted from being bitter rivals to unlikely allies over the span of one election season.
Musk, who has described himself as a Democrat until a few years ago, suggested in 2022 that Trump was too old to be president again. Still, Musk formally endorsed Trump two days after his assassination attempt last month.
The tech CEO had already been working privately to support a pro-Trump super PAC. The group, known as America PAC, is now under investigation by election officials for alleged misleading attempts to collect data from voters.
Meanwhile, Trump has softened his criticism of electric vehicles, citing Musk’s leadership of Tesla. And on Monday, at least, Trump returned to Musk’s social media platform in force. The former president made at least eight individual posts in the hours leading up to the Musk interview.
Long before he endorsed Trump, Musk turned increasingly toward the right in his posts and actions on the platform, also using X to try to sway political discourse around the world. He’s gotten in a dustup with a Brazilian judge over censorship, railed against what he calls the “woke mind virus” and amplified false claims that Democrats are secretly flying in migrants to vote in US elections.
Musk has also reinstated previously banned accounts such as the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Trump, who was kicked off the platform — then known as Twitter — two days after the Jan. 6 violence, with the company citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” By November 2022, Musk had bought the company, and Trump’s account was reinstated, although the former president refrained from tweeting until Monday, insisting that he was happier on his own Truth Social site, which he launched during the ban.
Trump’s audience on X is legions larger than on Truth Social, which became a publicly traded company earlier this year. Trump has just over 7.5 million followers on Truth Social, while his mostly dormant X account is followed by 88 million. Musk’s account, which hosted the interview, has more than 193 million followers.
In a reminder that the world was watching, the chat prompted a preemptive note of caution from Europe.
Thierry Breton, a French business executive and commissioner for internal market of the European Union, warned Musk of possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his interview with Trump. In a letter posted on X, Breton urged Musk to “ensure X’s compliance” with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, adopted in 2022 to address a number of issues including disinformation.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung urged the EU to “mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the US Presidential election.” He said the EU was “an enemy of free speech and has no authority of any kind to dictate how we campaign.”
Trump and Musk talk about assassination attempt and deportations during glitchy chat on X
https://arab.news/ryx7w
Trump and Musk talk about assassination attempt and deportations during glitchy chat on X
Trump rules out new Harris debate as swing state fight resumes
CHARLOTTE: Donald Trump said Thursday he would not take part in another debate with Kamala Harris, as the White House rivals headed back to battleground states that are set to decide a nail-bitingly close US presidential election.
The Republican former president lashed out two days after his first televised clash with the Democratic vice president, when Harris put Trump on the defensive and got under his skin with a series of barbs.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” the 78-year-old wrote on his Truth Social platform, including in his tally the earlier debate with Joe Biden in June that drove the incumbent out of the race, and his Tuesday showdown with Harris.
Trump claimed that “polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris” — despite several snap surveys that showed Harris came out well on top in the clash viewed by more than 67 million Americans.
In a rally in the key swing state of North Carolina, Harris insisted that they should debate again before the November 5 election. It wasn’t clear if she was aware of Trump’s statement.
“Two nights ago Donald Trump and I had our first debate and I believe we owe it to the voters to have another,” Harris said to cheers from supporters in the city of Charlotte.
“Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” added the Democrat, who heads to a second rally in Greensboro, North Carolina later on Thursday.
The 59-year-old went on to reference several Trump statements on issues including abortion and his widely mocked assertion that he had “concepts of a plan” to reform the US health care system.
The Harris campaign said earlier that she was entering a “more aggressive” phase of her White House bid and was “seeking to capitalize on her decisive debate victory and build on momentum.”
Trump was taking the stage later Thursday in Tucson, Arizona, amid media reports of turmoil in his camp over the way Harris succeeded in goading him into angry responses.
He will focus on “our struggling economy and the rising cost of housing,” his campaign said — indicating an attempt to get Trump to stick to mainstream voter concerns, rather than his penchant for wild conspiracy theories and lobbing of insults.
Trump and Harris remain neck and neck in the polls with just 54 days until the election, with the result expected to hinge on a few thousand voters in half a dozen swing states including North Carolina and Arizona.
Harris has erased Trump’s lead since Biden ended his reelection bid on July 21 but insists she is the underdog in perhaps the shortest and most dramatic campaign in US political history.
The election is also further stoking political tensions in an already deeply polarized nation.
The White House on Thursday condemned a false story about migrants eating pet cats and dogs in Ohio — which Trump pushed during the debate — as “filth” and said it put “lives in danger.”
The US government has meanwhile declared the formal electoral count on January 6, 2025 a “special security event” — amid apparent fears of a repeat of the storming of the US Capitol in 2021 by Trump supporters who refused to accept his defeat by Biden.
The announcement came as Republican Alberto Gonzales, who was attorney general under president George W. Bush, said he backed Harris because of Trump’s behavior on that day made him a threat to the rule of law.
Trump and Harris though have their eyes firmly fixed on the battlegrounds.
Harris returns to pivotal Pennsylvania on Friday for campaign events in Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre before attending an awards dinner Saturday with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Trump will deliver remarks in Las Vegas on Friday on the cost of living, as he targets Nevada, yet another key swing state.
Harris’s running mate Tim Walz will travel to Michigan and Wisconsin from Thursday to Saturday as part of the campaign’s New Way Forward swing state tour.
Colombia seeks information on ‘mercenaries’ held in Russia
BOGOTA: Colombia’s government said Thursday it had asked Russia for information about the welfare of three of its nationals held by Moscow on suspicion of acting as mercenaries in Ukraine.
Two of the soldiers who had allegedly been fighting on the side of Ukraine reportedly disappeared in July while on their way home through Venezuela, a close ally of Moscow.
In late August, a court in Moscow said the two men — Alexander Ante and Jose Aron Medina — had been remanded in custody on charges of acting as mercenaries, a crime punishable by 15 years in prison in Russia.
The foreign ministry in Bogota said Thursday it had written to Moscow “seeking information on the legal status, current whereabouts and health status of the Colombian citizens.”
It said a third Colombian named Miguel Angel Cardenas was also being held.
The disappearance of Aron and Ante first became public in late July, when Aron’s family told Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper the two had disappeared just before they were due to board a plane at Caracas airport for Bogota on July 19.
The next time they saw the pair was in a video released by Russia’s FSB security services on July 30, which showed them in Ukrainian uniforms, and then being interrogated in prison.
It was not clear how they had arrived in Russia, which is one of the few countries to have recognized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s claim to have won a second presidential term in disputed July elections.
Venezuela’s opposition claims their candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was the rightful winner, a claim backed by several Latin American countries, the United States and the European Union.
A friend of Ante’s family told El Tiempo the men were in Ukrainian uniform when they went missing in Venezuela, which borders Colombia.
Colombia, where the security forces have been combatting guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug cartels for over six decades, has one of Latin America’s largest armies.
Some retired soldiers have gone on to fight as mercenaries in foreign battlefields, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since 2022, an unknown number has also enlisted with the Ukrainian army, trying to fight off a Russian invasion.
The relatives of several ex-Colombian soldiers have reported their loved ones killed, wounded or going missing in Ukraine recently.
Last month, leftist President Gustavo Petro’s administration tabled a bill in parliament to ban the training, financing and recruitment of mercenaries in the country.
US calls for Africa to get two permanent UN Security Council seats
UNITED NATIONS: Washington called Thursday for two new permanent seats on the UN Security Council for African nations, alongside a rotating seat for island states — but insisted they not have a veto.
The proposals would transform the 15-member top body of the global organization which has been largely unchanged for decades and is mired in dysfunction and disagreements between existing permanent members.
The new African representatives should not wield veto power over council resolutions, unlike the current permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — US officials have said.
“I’m announcing the United States supports three additional changes to the Security Council,” said Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
This would include “creating two permanent seats for Africa,” she said.
African nations already have three non-permanent seats on the Security Council, allocated on a rotating basis for two year terms.
In addition, “the United States supports creating a new elected seat on the Security Council for small island developing states,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Reform of the Security Council, long-stalled because of differences among its permanent members, would need to be ratified unanimously among the five top-tier powers — all nuclear armed.
A change in membership would first require adoption and ratification by two-thirds of the 193 member states.
Washington has notably said it is opposed to allowing any new members the veto power enjoyed by the five permanent members, claiming it would cause gridlock.
“We’ve been very, very clear that we do not support expansion of the veto,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“We have veto power as well, and none of the permanent members want to give up their veto power — including us. I’m being honest about that.”
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio told the Security Council in August that “Africa wants the veto abolished.”
“However, if UN Member States wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new Permanent Members as a matter of justice,” he said.
The United Nations said Washington’s call was a positive step for African representation.
“The announcement is an important one, it’s welcome,” said a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“All of the details of how this will work will have to be decided by member states,” Stephane Dujarric told a briefing.
“It goes along the lines of what (Guterres) has said, lamenting the lack of African representation.”
In September 2022, US President Joe Biden threw his weight behind reform of the council, supporting calls for permanent seats for Africa and Latin America, without giving details.
Russia has previously called for African nations to be cautious of new seats on the council if granted alongside seats to longstanding US allies like Japan and Germany, which Washington has sought.
“It will not be possible to address historical injustice toward Africa while simultaneously allowing new Western members to join the UN Security Council,” Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said previously.
Bomb threat rattles US city in Republican anti-migrant conspiracy
SPRINGFIELD, United States: Government buildings and an elementary school in Springfield, Ohio were evacuated Thursday after an emailed bomb threat, police said, rattling the small US city at the heart of an anti-migrant conspiracy theory amplified by Donald Trump.
Springfield has been thrust into the spotlight in recent days after an unfounded story of Haitian migrants eating pets went viral on social media, with the Republican ex-president and current White House candidate pushing the narrative despite it being debunked.
Democrats have accused Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, of fanning racial tensions as they use the Springfield conspiracy theory to elevate immigration as a campaign issue ahead of November’s election.
The White House condemned the conspiracy theory on Thursday as “filth” and said they were endangering people’s lives.
“It is spreading filth that makes the lives of the communities that are being smeared here... it puts their lives in danger,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Despite local officials saying they had received no credible reports of pets being stolen and eaten, Trump repeated the claim during his debate Tuesday against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Springfield police said in a statement that City Hall and several other government buildings had been evacuated after a bomb threat sent by email at 8:24 am (1224 GMT).
“Authorities investigated and cleared all facilities listed in the threat with the assistance of explosive detecting canines,” it said.
Fulton Elementary School and Springfield Academy of Excellence were also listed in the threat and evacuated, according to the statement.
“We are currently partnering with the Dayton office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify the source of the email,” it added.
Arriving at the school to retrieve his child, Haitian immigrant Mackenso Roseme told AFP that the current tensions in the community were “worrying.”
“I’m a little stressed. I think something might happen,” he said.
A sign in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole informed Roseme and other parents that the students had been moved to a high school.
Mayor Rob Rue told the Springfield News-Sun that the person who sent the bomb threat claimed to be from the city and mentioned Haitian immigration issues.
Despite the bomb threats, Trump was still reposting memes related to the conspiracy theory hours later on his Truth Social platform.
He claimed Ohio was being “inundated with Illegal Migrants, mostly from Haiti, who are taking over Towns and Villages at a level and rate never seen before.”
Springfield, with a population of about 58,000, has seen an increase in Haitian immigrants in recent years — 10,000 to 15,000 according to the Springfield News-Sun.
Social services, schools and housing have been stressed in the city for years, with some pointing to migration as a factor.
A multiracial group of pastors called a press conference Thursday in Springfield, joining hands in prayer and calling on the community to come together.
“Today there were some things that happened, some threats of violence,” Wes Babian, a former pastor of First Baptist Church, told AFP.
“That is part of what motivated the quick calling of clergy to come together to express our support for the Haitian community and our concern for the well being of the entire community.”
Salman Rushdie’s memoir about his stabbing, ‘Knife,’ is a National Book Award nominee
- The National Book Foundation, which presents the awards, released long lists of 10 Thursday for nonfiction and poetry
- The foundation announced the lists for young people’s literature and books in translations earlier in the week and will reveal the fiction nominees on Friday
NEW YORK: Salman Rushdie’s “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” his explicit and surprisingly resilient memoir about his brutal stabbing in 2022, is a nominee for the National Book Awards. Canada’s Anne Carson, one of the world’s most revered poets, was cited for her latest collection, “Wrong Norma.”
The National Book Foundation, which presents the awards, released long lists of 10 Thursday for nonfiction and poetry. The foundation announced the lists for young people’s literature and books in translations earlier in the week and will reveal the fiction nominees on Friday. Judges will narrow the lists to five in each category on Oct. 1, and winners will be announced during a Manhattan dinner ceremony on Nov. 20.
Rushdie, 77, has been a literary star since the 1981 publication of “Midnight’s Children” and unwittingly famous since the 1988 release of “The Satanic Verses” and the death decree issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for the novel’s alleged blasphemy. But “Knife” brings him his first National Book Award nomination; he was a British citizen, based in London, for “Midnight’s Children” and other works and would have been ineligible for the NBAs. Rushdie has been a US citizen since 2016.
Besides “Knife,” the nonfiction list includes explorations of faith, identity, oppression, global resources and outer space, among them Hanif Abdurraqib’s “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension,” Rebecca Boyle’s “Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are” and Jason De León’s “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.”
The other nonfiction nominees were: Eliza Griswold’s “Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church,” Kate Manne’s “Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia,” Ernest Scheyder’s “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives,” Richard Slotkin’s “A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America,” Deborah Jackson Taffa’s “Whiskey Tender” and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s “Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders.”
Along with Carson’s “Wrong Norma,” poetry nominees include Pulitzer Prize winner Dianne Seuss’ latest, “Modern Poetry“; Fady Joudah’s elliptically titled “(...)”; Dorianne Laux’s “Life on Earth”; Gregory Pardlo’s “Spectral Evidence”; and Rowan Ricardo Phillips’ “Silver.”
Others on the poetry list were Octavio Quintanilla’s “The Book of Wounded Sparrows,” m.s. RedCherries’ “mother,” Lena Khalaf Tuffaha’s “Something About Living” and Elizabeth Willis’ “Liontaming in America.”
