Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump finally addressed his apparent lisp during Monday night’s interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
After listeners noticed a change in the former US president’s voice, Trump took to Truth Social last night to address the unusual lisp, attributing it to the “complexity of modern equipment.”
He said that because of “cell phone technology, my voice was, in certain areas, a little different and strange.”
The meeting of the two most influential men on the planet was dominated by listeners who noted that Trump seemed to lisp or even slur his words at some points, having trouble with words containing the “s” sound. Memes of Trump as Mike Tyson and Daffy Duck immediately began trending.
“It must be your damn hearing. Get your ears checked,” Trump’s spokesman told reporters amid a debate over whether it was false teeth or hearing problems.
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks as he takes part in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on the social media platform X, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, August 12, 2024.
Elon Musk arrives for a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 24, 2024
Trump finally addressed his lisp in Monday night’s interview, blaming it on the “complexity of modern equipment.”
While discussing his lisp, Trump also took the opportunity to boast about the “record-breaking audience” he and Musk received, and personally thanked the tech billionaire for “such a strong endorsement” during the extraordinary interview.
“Elon himself is very special,” he added.
The couple sat down for two hours to talk about topics such as immigration, religion, global warming and much more.
Even before the rambling interview began, there were problems, as a cyberattack just before the pair began broadcasting caused a 43-minute delay.
But once in office, Trump spoke of becoming more religious after the assassination attempt on him in Pennsylvania on July 13, a shooting that Musk said showed Trump’s courage, while Musk urged Americans to vote for the Republican presidential nominee instead of Kamala Harris.
Memes of Donald Trump featuring Donald Duck’s face photoshopped onto his face have emerged after listeners noticed his strange lisp.
Another meme that started trending was Trump as Mike Tyson.
As the conversation continued, the two touched on an extraordinary range of topics, including admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Trump’s accusation that Joe Biden has a low IQ.
The 45th US president also promised to build an “Iron Dome” defence system for the United States like the one used by Israel to intercept missiles and vowed he would oversee the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in history if he became president in November, insisting cities like New York have been “overwhelmed” and that “rough people” including terrorists are entering the US from Mexico.
“These are people who are in prison for murder and all kinds of things, and they are being released into our country,” he said.
There was also an awkward moment that could put the politician in the spotlight at home, when he told Musk that his presidential rival Harris resembled his wife.
Speaking about Kamala’s cover in Time, he said: “She looks like the most beautiful actress who ever lived. It was a drawing and she actually looked a lot like a great first lady, Melania.”