Trump returns to X for the first time in a year ahead of his Elon Musk interview

Former President Donald Trump started posting to X again ahead of his interview Monday night with the site's owner Elon Musk. 

Trump posted several times to his @RealDonaldTrump account on the site formerly known as Twitter. 

He had been banished from Twitter in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. 

The Republican nominee posted once to X in 2023, after Musk had taken over the site, and on the heels of him getting a mugshot taken as part of the Georgia election interference case. 

Shortly before noon on Monday he resumed posting to his @RealDonaldTrump account, which boasts 88.1 million followers.  

Former President Donald Trump (left) started using X again ahead of his Monday night interview with the site's owner Elon Musk (right)

Trump's first post on X in almost a year showcased a two and a half minute, highly-produced campaign ad 

He first posted a campaign ad. 

The two and a half minute spot was highly produced and included scenes from Trump's 2017 inauguration. 

It also included news clips from the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid and depicted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up Trump's 2020 State of the Union address. 

The ad showed Trump triumphantly entering an Ultimate Fighting Championship match with CEO Dana White, who introduced the GOP nominee at last month's Republican National Convention. 

In a follow-up post, the ex-president asked, 'Are you better off now than you were when I was president?'   

'Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We're a nation in decline. Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!' he said. 

The former president tweeted another campaign ad Monday afternoon, this one filmed in black-and-white. 

Trump posed the question on X Monday afternoon: 'Are you better off now than you were when I was president?'  

He posted a handful of videos Monday, including one characterizing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris as a 'San Franciso Radical' 

Trump promoted his interview with Elon Musk Monday night. Musk described it as 'unscripted with no limits on subject matter'

He also posted a video characterizing his rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, as a 'SAN FRANCISCO RADICAL.'  

Additionally, Trump advertised his 8 p.m. sit-down with Musk. 

Musk, who's also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, endorsed Trump the day the former president was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

'This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!' Musk wrote on X Sunday, previewing the interview with Trump.

Trump has stayed of X in order to keep supporters coming to his own social media platform, Truth Social.