Donald Trump finally made his return to Twitter ("X") last night for a two-hour live Spaces chat with Elon Musk. The event got off to a rocky beginning, with the scheduled starting time delayed considerably and the total audience had to be severely trimmed back from the number of people who signed up. Musk claimed this was because of a massive denial of service attack launched by hackers. Once the conversation got underway, however, things seemed to proceed smoothly. There was no format to follow and Trump wasn't reading from a script. He hit every topic tossed his way, expounding at length. But when the subject of illegal migration came up, Donald Trump tore into Kamala Harris and then declared that illegal migrants have "overwhelmed" the City of New York, with terrible crimes committed by migrants continuing to be committed nearly daily. (NY Post)

Donald Trump said Monday that illegal immigration has “overwhelmed” New York City — citing the brutal rape of a 46-year-old woman Sunday at Coney Island and slamming Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance as President Biden’s “border czar.”

The former president tore into Harris, who he will face in the Nov. 5 election, as a “third-rate phony candidate” while citing crime in the Big Apple associated with people who crossed the US-Mexico border illegally while Harris was Biden’s designee to reduce crossings.

“I saw it today in New York, where somebody was knifed, where they raped the girlfriend of a man that stood there watching in New York in one of the shelters and started pulling out the knives. And bad things happen today, but this is happening every day,” Trump told Elon Musk in a live-streamed X Spaces conversation.

I suppose we could deduct a couple of style points from Donald Trump for restating the obvious in this fashion. But the news cycle gave him plenty of ammunition to back up his charges. He was correct in pointing out that the news had just broken on the same day as the interview of two illegal migrants raping a woman in New York at knifepoint right in front of her boyfriend. One of the migrants had already been charged with a sex crime four months earlier. Musk and Trump wouldn't have had to dig very far to find more such horror stories.

Trump blamed Kamala Harris for this personally, and why wouldn't he? After all, she was Biden's border czar no matter how much the left tries to deny it. We have the video clips to prove it. Of course, that wasn't very easy to tell over much of her time in office because she's done absolutely nothing to shut down the border. In fact, she and Joe Biden have done the precise opposite and done so intentionally. But now that she's running for office herself with the polls showing national outrage over the situation, it can no longer be ignored, so she has to try to reinvent herself. Good luck with that.

Trump's focus on the Big Apple during his chat with Musk is understandable. As he pointed out, he lived there for ages and he still loves New York, despite being chased out by the Democratic power brokers and judicial activists there after entering politics. He helped build the skyline of New York City and has provided countless jobs for Gotham's residents. And they used to love Trump as well. He was invited to all of the upper-end parties and celebrities constantly sought his attention. Of course, that all changed after he declared himself to be a conservative and overthrew the liberal power structure in Washington in 2016.

In that sense, Elon Musk probably shares a number of things in common with Donald Trump. He was long hailed as a success story, coming to America as a legal immigrant from South Africa, starting multiple companies, and gradually building a massive empire and an impressive fortune. His many acts of charity and generosity are legendary. Last night he even reminded Trump that he has traditionally been primarily a moderate centrist politically, "perhaps even leaning a bit to the left." But his fortunes also changed when he started complaining about the government's intrusion on free speech, particularly on social media platforms. Progressives believe in free speech, but only when that speech supports their causes. When Musk eventually moved to buy Twitter and wound up endorsing Trump, it was all over. The liberal mob was coming for him with their torches lighting the way. So now Musk has staked out his lane. He will be riding with Trump toward November and hoping for the best just like pretty much everyone here.