‘He’s just being a normal person’: Elon Musk praises Donald Trump for doing the absolute bare minimum
Elon Musk—with characteristic hyperbole and an unsubtle poke at Vice President Kamala Harris—declared with no evidence whatsoever that Donald Trump’s podcast appearances “made a big difference” in securing his 2024 election victory. The soon-to-be (if he has it his way) tech trillionaire’s assessment reveals the jarring double standard that defined this election cycle.
“He’s just being a normal person, having a conversation,” Musk told Tucker Carlson on November 5, praising Trump’s appearances on shows like Joe Rogan’s podcast. This framing—that basic coherence in long-form interviews somehow validates Trump’s fitness for office—illustrates how the bar for Trump’s electability reached a historic low.
For Trump, merely showing up and stringing sentences of problematic vomit rhetoric together for three hours warrants celebration. No demands for policy specifics. No requirements to address his legal challenges. No expectations to moderate his rhetoric. The standard was simply: Can he complete a podcast?
Meanwhile, Harris, who stepped in as the Democratic nominee without the benefit of primary season vetting—perhaps, in fairness, to her detriment—faced a gauntlet of impossible expectations. As the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket, she confronted scrutiny far beyond her qualifications or platform. Musk’s dismissive dog-whistling claim that Harris would “run out of non-sequiturs after about 45 minutes” on Rogan’s show exposes the cynical game at play.
Trump’s base didn’t tune into these podcasts seeking substance. They sought confirmation of their grievances from a figure who had already secured their loyalty through years of stoking cultural resentments. There was no intrinsic demand for him not to be racist, sexist, or anything else other than the monster he showed himself to be. In contrast, Harris, despite her being well-qualified in a vacuum, had to clear a bar arguably higher than any candidate in history based on her sex and race and the antipathy of Biden’s politics.
Trump is the champion of underachieving whiteness made good somehow, some way. As X user Akilah Hughes wrote: “I mean the bar was in hell for Donald Trump and he didn’t clear it. That’s actually what this is about. This country expects less than nothing from privileged white men. And they provide it in abundance.”
The irony is that Trump’s “normal person” persona praised by Musk came packaged with the same inflammatory rhetoric and divisive messaging that defined his political rise in 2016. The podcasts didn’t reveal a changed man—they simply provided a more relaxed setting for the same Trump where his mind would scatter or be distracted by loud noises. He was not challenged in any significant way by the hosts. In fact, it would be found that people like Joe Rogan, who had just made fun of Trump months ago, would pledge their fealty as soon as it became beneficial to do so.
Trump’s podcast tour represented political theater at its most cynical: the illusion of accessibility and authenticity masking a campaign built on grievance and an admitted revenge. His voters do not care about his personality cult; he presents as aggrieved and vengeful in a way they wish they could act upon.
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
