Former President Trump clarified that his ‘lisp’ during his interview with Elon Musk on Monday was the result of technology and that he wasn’t actually slurring his words.
‘Unfortunately, because of the complexity of modern day equipment, and cellphone technology, my voice was, in certain areas, somewhat different and strange,’ Trump wrote in a statement on Truth Social.
‘Therefore, we have put out an actual, and perfect, recording of the conversation. ENJOY!!!’
On X.com, formerly Twitter, Trump posted a new recording of his two-hour conversation with Musk, in which his voice is clear and there is no lisp.
Musk’s interview with Trump was initially livestreamed on Spaces on X, a platform for hosting live audio conversations.
Listeners were overcome with confusion when it appeared that the former president was suffering from a slight lisp.
Many on the right and left created memes to poke fun at the former president’s voice, with one supporter photo-shopping Trump as Mike Tyson.
‘Iron Trump is giving a great interview. Lisp and all,’ said one supporter, referencing the boxing champion and ‘Hangover’ star’s nickname.
Others compared him to two of the more famous lispers in cartoon history: Daffy Duck and Sylvester the Cat.
‘Trump low-key sounds like a cartoon on this Twitter space. His mic catches a crazy lisp,’ wrote one listener.
Another wondered: ‘Trump sounded like he was slurring his words a bit. Did he get dental work done? Elon sounds like he always does.’
However, left wing streamer Hasan Piker defended Trump, claiming it was how X Spaces’ audio quality always made people sound.
‘It’s probably due to audio compression issues but Trump sounds like he has a lisp’.
Michael Tracey, a journalist, also noted that he’d had similar problems with the service.
‘Trump isn’t slurring his words, I’ve also had that weird thing happen on Spaces where it sounds like I have a comically outrageous lisp’.
However, former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza wondered how Trump would react to the glut of memes posted online from the supposed lisp.
‘Trump lisp is SUPER pronounced. Probably the only thing he will care about when he reads coverage of this interview’, he wrote.
The left-leaning Huffington Post’s White House correspondent S.V. Date asked the Trump campaign why the ex-president appeared to be slurring his words.
‘Must be your s***ty hearing. Get your ears checked out,’ a spokesperson responded.
Musk’s interview with former President Donald Trump finally kicked off about 40 minutes behind schedule.
He said that his conversation with former President Donald Trump would happen with a smaller audience and he would release an audio recording directly afterward after a tech snafu derailed Monday night’s programming.
Musk said his website, X, was the victim of a cyber-attack, which is why the Trump interview wouldn’t load.
‘We tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier today,’ the SpaceX and Tesla CEO insisted.
X users were greeted with loud music as they attempted to get into Donald J. Trump’s ‘Space’ to hear the former president converse with X owner Elon Musk.
Eventually the music stopped and a ruffling sound could be heard.
Then Trump appeared to have muted his line.
The highly anticipated interview was supposed to kick off at 8 p.m.
Musk endorsed Trump on the heels of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO then explained that the Q&A would be a conversation not a hostile interview.
‘It’s hard to catch a vibe about someone if you just don’t hear them talk in a normal way,’ Musk said.
Apart from explaining away his lisp, Trump also used his post on Truth Social to boast of the large number of people who tuned in for the interview.
‘My conversation with Elon last night was heard by a RECORD audience, and was really something special, as Elon himself is very special – and I thank him for such a strong Endorsement!’