# Elon Musk on Europe, the far right and civil war in Britain | The Economist *The Economist* ยท https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTGCSYn0piw ## Summary In this short, heated exchange with The Economist, Elon Musk rejects the label 'far right', saying he supports normal people and policies such as secure borders, safe cities and sensible spending. He defends his claim that 'civil war in Britain is inevitable' on current immigration trends, while the interviewer, who lives in the UK, counters that Musk has not visited in years and that UK crime figures contradict his picture. The interview also covers Musk's posting of the film Citizen Vigilante, accusations of racism, and whether he should influence European politics at all. Musk concludes that he does not care that some people loathe him and believes more people like him than dislike him. ## Key points - Musk rejects the label 'far right', saying he supports 'normal people' and policies like secure borders, safe cities and sensible spending. - He argues that positions he holds were mainstream in speeches by Obama and Hillary Clinton 10 to 15 years ago. - Musk claims 'civil war in Britain is inevitable' on the current trend, arguing a rapidly growing group with antithetical views will clash with those who oppose them. - The interviewer counters that Musk has not visited the UK in a few years and that London is much safer than any US city, with violent crime coming down. - The interviewer criticises Musk for posting the film Citizen Vigilante for 48 hours, saying it glorifies vigilante violence against a Muslim immigrant family. - Musk denies being racist, citing his half-Indian partner, their four children and senior executives of all races at his companies. - Musk says he is against immigration by people with views antithetical to the West, and against rape, murder and laws contrary to Western norms. - Musk says he does not care that some people loathe him, and believes far more people like him than dislike him. ## Notes ### Overview This is a combative exchange between an Economist interviewer and Elon Musk about his political stances on Europe, immigration and Britain. ### On the 'far right' label - Musk rejects being called far right, saying he supports "normal people". - He claims his positions were mainstream 10 to 15 years ago, joking that speeches by Obama or Hillary could be passed off as Trump speeches to people on what he calls the "lunatic left". - He lists his principles as secure borders, safe cities and sensible spending, and admonishes the media for what he calls an absurd, false characterisation. ### Civil war in Britain - Musk stands by his claim that "civil war in Britain is inevitable" on the current trend. - He argues that a large, rapidly growing group with beliefs antithetical to Western beliefs will eventually try to impose their views, and opposition to that is what constitutes civil war. - The interviewer, who lives in the UK, pushes back: Musk has not been there for a few years, London is safer than any US city, and UK violent crime is coming down. - The interviewer says Musk's posts have led many Americans to believe the UK is overrun with dangerous immigrants and grooming gangs. ### Citizen Vigilante and racism accusations - The interviewer criticises Musk for posting the film Citizen Vigilante on X for 48 hours, saying it paints a dystopian picture of Europe and glorifies vigilante violence against a Muslim immigrant family. - Musk calls it a movie worth watching and denies being racist, citing his half-Indian partner, their four children (one named after a famous Indian physicist) and executives of all races at his companies. - Asked if he is anti-Muslim, Musk says he is against people coming to a country with antithetical views, against rape and murder, and against imposing rules contrary to Western norms. ### Influence and public opinion - Asked why he should shape European politics while not living there, Musk says he thinks of the West collectively. - The interviewer says this is why some people loathe him; Musk says he does not care and believes far more people like him than dislike him, and that more people hate the media than the media realises. ## Transcript [00:00] You support not just the populist right but the far right in fact very fringe parties in some countries I support the normal people okay what you call the far right falsely you think is the normal person okay yes um literally you could you could go back uh 10 or 15 years and these these these policies were completely normal in fact you you one of the one of the tricks I think is funny what I think is that's quite funny is to like take a speech from Obama and Hillary and then and and go to someone say uh who's sort of um you know on the sort of what I call the lunatic left um and say what do you think of the speech by Trump like oh wow he's the worst person ever actually that was a speech by Obama or actually that was a speech by Hillary [00:45] I I I agree no I agree that the center of gravity in this country has shifted certainly the Democratic party shifted to the left but that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about people like Rupert Lowe people it's actually just normal people um it's just normal people it's just normal people And um the and and here are the principles and and tell me which of these sound terrible. Um that we should have secure borders, that we should have safe cities, uh that we should have sensible spending. Which of those three are are are far right fringe and and I would like to just admonish you and the media for the absurd characterization of the far right. It is false and misleading and nonsense. Please keep this part in. We'll keep all of this [01:29] in. But [laughter] let me let me let me Don't cut this part. Let me push back on that. Let me push back on that because you have nonsense. Elon, you have what is it? Close to 250 million followers on X. Yeah. You say things like popular guy. Quote, "Civil war in Britain is inevitable." Just a question. On the current trend. Yes. I mean, when were you last in the UK? Um, a few years ago. Exactly. So, so I live there. I'm there the whole time. That is not you live in a closed existence. No, I don't actually. And the numbers also disprove what you say. What numbers? All the numbers about London is a much safer city than any city in the United States. Violent crime in the UK is not where you think it is. In fact, it's coming down. You you have painted and because you [02:13] have so many followers, so many Americans believe it. A a kind of view that Europe in and the UK are kind of, you know, overrun with terrifying Muslim immigrants. There's rape on every corner. there's a sort of civilizational destruction. I haven't said any of those things. If you have uh a large uh and growing rapidly growing uh group of of people whose beliefs are antithetical to western beliefs um at some point there will be a reckoning that that they they will they will try to implement their views and those who oppose it will oppose it and that's what you call civil war. And obviously this is the trend. Um and uh and and you absolutely do live in a cloistered existence. And if you'd like we can go on a tour of Britain. Sure. Happy to come on a tour of Britain. And then [03:06] and you will see for yourself. Come see my country that I live in all the time and you haven't been to a few years. I've been there literally a hundred times. But when was the last time? Literally a few years ago. You know why I this exercises me? because you have really shaped opinion about the UK and so many Americans I come across and I have conversations with and they'll be and I just had one the other day along the order of oh London such a dangerous place how can you know there are sort of grooming gangs everywhere there are there's violence everywhere this is a picture that people get from things that you post or that are posted on X and for example you're you're posting for what was it 48 hours of Citizen Vigilante that film which [03:46] you know paints a dystopian. I've watched it. Yes, it was not fun. I watched it yesterday. It's not a very good movie, but it's also paints a dystopian picture of Europe and it glorifies vigilante violence. It glorifies the murdering of a Muslim immigrant family. I honestly think that it is irresponsible for you to put that up on X. I think that it's it's a movie um and it's worth watching. People say that you're a racist. What is the motivation for doing that? Are you fermenting? My partner is is is um she's half Indian and my my and I have four children with her. Um you know um one of them was named after a famous Indian physicist. Um so I I would say I'm not racist. And also uh the you know if you look at the people that are employed at my companies um [04:38] you know we have senior executives of all races. Uh there there's there's I don't think there's any racism there. Are you anti-Muslim? Um I am I'm against uh [04:54] having if if if if people are coming to a country with antithetical views um I I am against that. I I'm against that, you know. I'm against um [05:11] I I I'm against rape and murder. I'm against uh the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we've come to accept in the west. Um, and um, and I think it's a it's it's a crying shame that the sort of traditional media like you um, uh, don't recognize this. Why should you be able to shape European politics? Wasn't you don't even live there. I think of it as the sort of the West collectively. But do you see why this makes people think that this man who has all this power, he's the world's richest man, he thinks he has a right to influence our politics. It makes people It's why, you know, we started this conversation saying superlatives. It's why people loathe you. I mean, some people do loathe you. Yes, some people do. But do you understand why do you [06:10] think what you're doing is helpful for Western? Maybe maybe some people do loathe me. I And that's and that's probably true. I don't care. Um the uh but but the fact that uh as you pointed out a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don't and I think a lot more people hate you and the media uh more than you realize.