In his much-publicized return to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Donald Trump detailed his assassination attempt and threatened the largest deportation in U.S. history – a conversation plagued by technical glitches.

“If I hadn’t turned my head, I wouldn’t 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 candidate’s toughness, as demonstrated by his response to the shooting last month, was critical to national security.

“There are some really tough guys out there,” Musk said. “And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they’ll do whatever they want.”

The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which lasted more than two hours and was mostly friendly, revealed little new about Trump’s plans for a second term. During the discussion, the former president focused mainly on his recent assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to reduce government regulations.

Still, the online meeting highlighted how much the U.S. political landscape has changed less than four years after the social media platform’s former leadership permanently banned Trump for spreading misinformation that sparked the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress and undermined the foundations of American democracy.

Such disinformation has flourished at X under Musk’s leadership, although it was largely ignored during his conversation with Trump, except for a passing mention by Trump of a “rigged election.”

The session was intended to be an opportunity for the former president to directly reach potentially millions of voters. It was also an opportunity for X, a platform that relies heavily on politics, to redeem itself after some difficulties.

It didn’t start as planned.

Although more than 878,000 users connected to the meeting more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, the interview had not yet started. Many users received the “Details unavailable” message.

Trump’s team posted that the “interview on X is being overloaded with listeners logging in.” And when the meeting began, Musk apologized for the late start, blaming a “massive attack” that had overloaded the company’s system. Trump’s voice sounded muffled at times.

Trump’s supporters were openly frustrated.

“Unavailable???? I planned my whole day around this,” wrote conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

“Please tell Elon we can’t attend,” posted billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

Ahead of the event, Musk posted on the platform that X was conducting “some tests to scale the system” to handle the expected large number of participants.

The rocky launch was reminiscent of a social media conversation between Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2023. The Republican governor used the social media platform to officially announce his presidential candidacy. It was a disastrous event marred by technical glitches and overloaded by the more than 400,000 people trying to dial in.

Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, noted that Trump had mocked DeSantis at the time.

“Wow! DeSanctus’ Twitter launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign is going to be a disaster. WATCH HERE!” Trump wrote Monday in a message reposted by Harris’ campaign.

Monday’s meeting also underscored the developing personal relationship between Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most powerful men who have transformed from bitter rivals to unlikely allies over the course of an election season.

Musk, who until recently described himself as a “moderate Democrat,” said in 2022 that Trump was too old to be president again. Nevertheless, Musk officially endorsed Trump two days after his assassination attempt last month.

During their conversation, Trump welcomed the idea that Musk could help reduce waste in government in his next administration. Musk volunteered to join a planned “Commission on Government Efficiency.”

“You are the biggest cut-throat official,” Trump told Musk. “I need an Elon Musk – I need someone with a lot of strength, courage and brains. I want to shut down the Department of Education and bring education back to the States.”

Even before his endorsement, the tech CEO had privately worked to support a pro-Trump super PAC. The group, known as America PAC, is now being investigated by election officials for allegedly deceptive attempts to collect voter data.

Trump has since toned down his criticism of electric cars, pointing to Musk’s leadership at Tesla. And on Monday, Trump returned to Musk’s social media platform, at least with force. The former president made at least eight separate posts in the hours before the Musk interview.

Long before he endorsed Trump, Musk’s posts and actions on the platform were increasingly moving to the right, and he also used X to try to influence political discourse around the world. He clashed with a Brazilian judge over censorship, railed against what he calls the “woke mind virus,” and spread false claims that Democrats were secretly flying in migrants to vote in the U.S. election.

Musk has also restored previously suspended accounts, such as that of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and that of 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 restored, although the former president refrained from tweeting until Monday, insisting he was happier on his own site, Truth Social, which he launched during the suspension.

Trump’s audience on X is several times larger than that on Truth Social, which went public earlier this year. Trump has just over 7.5 million followers on Truth Social, while his mostly inactive X account has 88 million followers. Musk’s account, which hosted the interview, has more than 193 million followers.

The chat was an indication that the world was watching and triggered precautionary warnings in Europe.

Thierry Breton, a French business executive and EU commissioner for the internal market, warned Musk of a possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his interview with Trump. In a letter published on X, Breton called on Musk to “ensure X’s compliance” with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, which was passed in 2022 to address a range of issues, including disinformation.

Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called on the EU to “mind its own business instead of trying to interfere in the US presidential election.”

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina