Elon Musk, the renowned owner of an electric vehicle company and a proponent of moving humanity to “a sustainable energy civilization,” stated to former President Donald Trump during an interview on X that “we shouldn’t demonize the oil and gas industry.”

Musk conducted the interview with Trump on his social media platform. However, the livestream was postponed by over 40 minutes due to technical glitches. After prolonged and meandering discussions covering immigration, inflation, and foreign policy, Musk and Trump eventually broached the topic of energy and climate change. Surprisingly, Musk came to the defense of the fossil fuel industry.

“I don’t believe we should condemn the oil and gas industry and the individuals who have toiled diligently in those sectors to supply the essential energy for sustaining the economy,” Musk asserted.

The CEO of Tesla, who characterized his viewpoints on energy as “fairly moderate” despite owning an EV and home energy company, contended that the economy “would crumble” if oil and gas firms were compelled to shut down. Musk also mentioned that the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in “50 or 100 years” – despite warnings from the scientific community that humanity is rapidly approaching a critical point regarding the climate. (Trump later modified it to “500 to 1000 years,” which Musk did not correct.)

“So it’s not as if the situation is immediately dire,” Musk said. “But I think it’s a direction we need to move in… It’s likely better to progress faster rather than slower. But without criticizing the oil and gas industry and without causing hardships in the short term.”

Yet, he promptly contradicted himself. Musk acknowledged that the continuous use of fossil fuels would make the air more difficult to breathe, causing people “headaches and nausea.” But he insisted that this was not a sufficient reason to expedite the shift away from the use of planet-heating fuels. According to Musk, we can leisurely progress towards a more sustainable future.

“We still have a considerable amount of time,” he said. “We don’t need to hurry.”

Trump, whose words often seemed slurred, quipped that rising sea levels would mean people would have more “oceanfront property.” This comment was promptly criticized by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Trump then briefly touched upon one of his favored subjects, electric vehicles, claiming that fossil fuel-powered energy generation is what powers Tesla’s vehicles. “[We] can’t escape it at this juncture,” he said.

But the discussion on EVs did not delve much deeper than that, despite Trump’s pledges to terminate subsidies for plug-in cars, which could significantly impact Tesla’s sales. Trump urged Musk to install solar panels on the roofs of his cars. (Tesla filed a patent for a solar panel-covered tonneau cover for the Cybertruck, but did not follow through.)

“People discuss global warming, or they talk about climate change, but they never mention nuclear warming,” Trump said. “An immediate concern.”