Elon Musk says nuclear energy ‘is not like

The interview was delayed for more than half an hour due to technical problems at X Spaces, which Elon Musk said was caused by a “massive” cyberattack. Finally, the conversation between the Tesla CEO and Donald Trump began around 9 pm EST, with the latter’s team calling it the “largest interview in history”, with Musk praising the former president for the way he handled the recent assassination attempt.

During the two-hour discussion, the two touched on a variety of issues, including immigration and the pandemic. Trump called his rival Kamala Harris a “fake candidate” and said President Biden was “falling apart.” The two also talked about nuclear energy. Some have since accused Musk of downplaying the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Musk and Trump discuss the merits of nuclear energy

At the beginning of the conversation, Trump called nuclear power “underrated” and “actually one of the safest ways to generate electricity.” The two then agreed that nuclear power has a “branding problem,” and then Trump mentioned the situation in Japan, “They said Japan would be unreachable for about 3,000 years.” He also talked about Russia.

Musk pointed out that the situation is not as bad as people think. “After the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, someone in California asked me, are you worried about the Japanese nuclear cloud? I said no, that’s crazy. In fact, Fukushima is not even dangerous. I flew there and ate locally grown vegetables on TV, which proved this.”

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum | Image credit: Zaru Rosario via Shutterstock

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Trump joked about his concern about Musk’s recent health, and the X-car owner then talked about the atomic bombings of 1945. “Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, but now they’re back to life,” he said. “That’s great, that’s great,” Trump responded, and Musk added, “Basically, it’s not as terrible as people think it is.”

Many people online believe that Musk’s remarks downplayed the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. CNN News Anchor Dana Bash also criticized him, suggesting he was “trying to downplay the impact of the bombing.” However, many other users slammed the news channel for selectively cutting parts of the conversation to make it seem as if the two were downplaying the attacks on the two Japanese cities.

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