A conversation between former president Donald Trump and Elon Musk on X Monday evening began with a delay of nearly an hour due to technical issues experienced by the social media platform. Once connected, the two discussed topics such as illegal immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Trump's political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

For approximately 40 minutes, individuals able to access X Spaces were met with hold music. Musk later announced on X that the platform seemed to be experiencing a significant Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

Finally, around 8:45 p.m. ET, Musk initiated the discussion, commending the former president for his response to the attempted assassination at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month. Musk noted Trump's rallying cry of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" as Secret Service escorted him off the stage.

"As I rose to my feet in front of the crowd, with my hand, you know, my fist raised, they couldn't be sure if I was alive. Nobody could. And when I lifted my fist, they were, they were just relieved, happy, and excited, and the whole place erupted in cheers," Trump explained to Musk as they discussed the event for over 20 minutes.

During the discussion, Trump repeatedly used his usual arguments, including expressing admiration for dictators, criticizing and insulting President Joe Biden, and denigrating immigrants.

One key point of disagreement between the two during their discussion was climate change, although Musk referred to it as "global warming." Musk repeatedly promoted the use of sustainable energy throughout the conversation, whereas Trump consistently argued in favor of fossil fuels, claiming his primary concern is "nuclear warming."

"I've heard that the production of fossil fuels is necessary, even to build electric cars and generate the electricity they need. You know, fossil fuels are the primary source of energy in power plants," Trump said after Musk mentioned the possibility of future air quality issues.

Musk countered Trump's assertion, explaining that he wasn't suggesting an immediate crisis, but rather advocating for a more rapid transition to sustainable energy sources. He emphasized the need for a gradual approach that avoids demonizing the oil and gas industry while minimizing short-term disruptions.

However, when discussing global threats, Trump quipped that there would be "more oceanfront property" as a result of rising sea levels and global warming.

"The greatest danger isn't global warming, which will cause sea levels to rise by a mere 1/8 of an inch over the next four centuries, giving us more beachfront land, right? That's not the real worry. The biggest threat is nuclear war, because there are now five countries with major nuclear capabilities," Trump asserted.

Both men criticized Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, with Trump attacking her over immigration policies, without acknowledging that he had instructed Republican members of the House to reject the recent comprehensive immigration bill that Republican Oklahoma Senator James Lankford helped write.

"She claims she was tough on immigration. 'We will be firm.' But she doesn't need to talk about it; she could take action right now. … They could make changes immediately. The situation is dire," Trump stated.

In the X conversation, Trump reiterated his baseless assertion that President Biden withdrawing from the race constituted a "coup."

Trump persistently criticized Harris during the discussion, referencing her recent TIME magazine cover and claiming she resembled his wife, Melania Trump. He further asserted that the vice president had undergone a public image transformation.

"She is awful. She's awful, but she's getting away with everything. I saw a photo of her on TIME magazine today. She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. It was a drawing and actually looked very much like our great first lady, Melania … She didn't look like Kamala," Trump said, mispronouncing the vice president's name.

Shortly after Trump lauded Musk for the impressive number of viewers in their Spaces chat, which reached roughly 1.3 million at its peak, Musk reiterated his backing of Trump.

"I believe our nation faces serious challenges if Kamala Harris becomes president, and that's my sincere view," Musk stated. "I genuinely believe it's crucial for you to win this election for the sake of our country."

In response to the online conversation, a representative for the Harris campaign criticized the two men as "self-absorbed wealthy individuals."

"Donald Trump's radical and perilous Project 2025 plan is a defining characteristic of his campaign, not a random error. This was on full display for those unfortunate enough to witness his live stream on X.com tonight. Trump's entire campaign caters to individuals like Elon Musk and himself — self-absorbed wealthy individuals who will exploit the middle class and who are incapable of managing a live stream in 2024," a statement from the Harris campaign representative said.

The campaign also mocked the lengthy delay in the interview, which lasted over 40 minutes, by sharing a previous Trump post on Truth Social on the Kamala HQ Truth Social account that criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ' presidential campaign launch event on X last year, which was also delayed by technical difficulties.

"Yikes! DeSantis's TWITTER debut is a FLOP! His entire campaign is going to be a flop. JUST WATCH!"

Last May, DeSantis had planned to begin his audio-only campaign launch with Musk, but repeated technical difficulties and outages delayed the start of the Spaces event for almost 30 minutes, after alternating periods of silence and static.

The Spaces broadcast was suddenly interrupted and then resumed. During the interruption, Musk and others could be heard talking about the technical issues behind the scenes.

Musk attributed the platform's difficulties during the DeSantis presidential campaign broadcast to a surge in traffic on its servers and "scaling challenges." He claimed that the issues arose because his account, with its massive following of 140 million users, was involved.