It began more than half an hour late as X Spaces was plagued with technical issues, which according to Elon Musk were caused by a “massive” cyberattack. Eventually, the conversation between the Tesla CEO and Donald Trump, billed by the latter’s team as “the biggest interview in history,” got going at around 9 p.m. ET, with Musk paying tribute to the former president on how he handled the recent assassination attempt.
During their two-hour discussion, the pair chatted about various issues, including immigration and the pandemic. Trump described his rival, Kamala Harris, as a “phony candidate” and said President Joe Biden was “close to vegetable stage.” There was also a conversation about nuclear energy. Some have since accused Musk of underplaying the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States.
Musk and Trump Discuss the Merits of Nuclear Energy
He began the conversation by calling nuclear electricity “underrated” and “actually one of the safest forms of electricity generation.” Both men then agreed that it had a “branding problem,” before Trump referred to the situation in Japan, “where they say you won’t be able to go on land for about 3,000 years.” He also spoke about Russia.
Musk pointed out that it wasn’t as bad as people thought. “After Fukushima happened in Japan, people were asking me in California, are you worried about a nuclear cloud coming from Japan? I am like no, that’s crazy. It is actually, it is not even dangerous in Fukushima. I flew there and ate locally grown vegetables on TV to prove it.”
Hiroshima Peace Memorial | Image by Zaru Rosario via Shutterstock
The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After Trump joked about being worried about Musk not feeling well recently, the X owner spoke about the atomic bombings in 1945. “Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, but now they are full cities again,” he said. “That’s great, that’s great,” replied Trump, before Musk added, “It’s not as scary as people think, basically.”
Several people online felt Musk’s comments trivialized the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. CNN news anchor Dana Bash was also critical, suggesting that he was, “Trying to blow off the impact” of the bombings. Many other users, however, lambasted the news channel for selectively cutting parts of the conversation to make it look like the two men were playing down the attacks on the two Japanese cities.
