Elon Musk has some theories about what helped Donald Trump secure another term in the White House, telling Tucker Carlson how Trump’s slew of podcast interviews let voters see he was just a “normal person.”
In an interview at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort late Tuesday, Musk said the president-elect’s appearances on long-form podcast like “The Joe Rogan Experience” made a “big difference” in how he was able to connect with Americans.
According to Musk, Trump won over voters by appearing like “a reasonably-minded, smart person who’s not, like, hardcore one way or the other” during those interviews.
“They just listen to someone talk for a few hours and that’s how they decide whether, you know, you’re a good person, whether they like you,” he added.
The tech billionaire said he suspected that Vice President Kamala Harris passed on her chance to sit down with Joe Rogan because “nothing would do more damage” to her campaign that one of his hours-long freeform interviews.
“You can’t hide in three hours!” Carlson agreed.
“But, on the other hand, Trump, he’s there, there’s no talking points,” Musk went on. “He’s just being a normal person, having a conversation and doing three hours of Rogan, no problem.”
Harris’ campaign strategy did include more than a few high-profile podcast appearances, however. In October, the Democrat targeted young female voters with an interview on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast, stopped by the long-running radio show “The Breakfast Club,” and joined NFL alum Shannon Sharpe on his show, “Club Shay Shay.”
One of Trump’s biggest campaign donors, Musk joined the former president, now president-elect, to celebrate his election win in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night.
Democracy In The Balance
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Last month, Trump floated the possibility of Musk joining his administration as the unofficial “Secretary of Cost-Cutting” where he’d be responsible for shaving billions from the federal budget. Some observers are predicting that he will merge his social media platform, X, with Trump’s Truth Social to create a massive “propaganda organ” for the Trump administration.