Could Elon Musk actually be arrested and X cancelled?

With each passing day, as the forces that control our nation and the world get more surreal and foreboding, the “unthinkable” suddenly morphs into the “inevitable.” At least for me.

As someone who pays close attention to the politics and the media in the United Kingdom and Europe, I began to notice a shocking narrative emanating from a growing number on the left there calling for the arrest of Elon Musk as well as the cancellation of X, the social media site he owns.

Surely, I thought, these people can’t be serious. But they were — and are — deadly serious. For them, Musk and X have become public enemy number one.

Before outlining the reasons for this, I have a serious question: Why have so many on the left and in the media seemingly fallen in love with censoring free speech or “canceling” those who hold different opinions from themselves? I am old enough to remember when Democrats, liberals and the media were all about free and protected speech.

This has become a chilling and dangerous trend. I am also old enough to remember when Democrats, liberals and the media raged against “totalitarian” regimes silencing the voices of the opposition and the calls for their arrest. Now, they seemingly choose to weaponize censorship and “lawfare” for their own means.

Now to address the line that Musk dared to cross that has many on the left calling for his cancellation, or worse. It all came in the wake of the horrific stabbing and killing of three little girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event on July 29 in Southport, England. Soon thereafter came massive unrest around the UK because of the attack.

Much of the left-leaning media and political intelligentsia in the country claimed the unrest began after “right-wing” activists used social media to spread “misinformation” about that knife attack.

But others wondered whether authorities, by deliberately keeping details of the attack and the attacker to themselves and shading some of the information they did put out, allowed needless speculation, causing “misinformation” to grow and spread.

The basis for much of the anger swirling around the killing of those three girls touched upon the open, unvetted and even illegal immigration (sound familiar?) which has been going on in that nation for years. Musk dared to touch that untouchable third rail by highlighting that issue while also questioning what seems to be a “two-tier” system of justice in the country.

What most set off the authorities and the cancel-pushing left in the UK was Musk posting, “Civil war in the country is inevitable.” Rather than address the concerns, results and legitimate fears that millions of their fellow citizens have with regard to unvetted and uncontrolled immigration, some authorities and media figures chose to lash out at Musk.

After Prime Minister Keir Starmer — whom Musk called “Two Tier Keir” — posted on X that his government “will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities,” Musk responded with the question, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”

Earlier this week, the left-of-center Guardian newspaper in the UK featured this ludicrous headline: “Inciting rioters in Britain was a test run for Elon Musk. Just see what he plans for America.”

The Guardian then went on to attack Musk with this incendiary bit of commentary: “This summer we have witnessed something new and unprecedented. The billionaire owner of a tech platform publicly confronting an elected leader and using his platform to undermine his authority and incite violence. Britain’s 2024 summer riots were Elon Musk’s trial balloon.”

Are you kidding me? “Musk’s trial balloon?” Is he about to unleash the Kraken upon the United States? As the left-of-center governments in the United Kingdom and Europe continually fail their own people, the left wants to train its fire on Musk as a distraction from their abject failures.

Do political correctness and “woke” policies now come before the safety of little girls or others in the U.K.? That is at the heart of some of the posts Elon Musk has been putting up on his feed — posts that have caused some in the U.K. to lose their minds and seemingly embrace draconian dictates.

Could these forces on the left actually stop Musk? Could they arrest and imprison him? Could they cancel X and silence the voices of hundreds of millions of citizens around the world? I would not be so fast to say “no.”

These are world “leaders,” powerful far-left media sites and far-left multibillionaires collectively marshalling their might against him. While many would label it a “token gesture” on my part, in solidarity with Musk, I finally activated my X account, simply to support his site and repost his warnings that freedom is under attack and censorship is on the rise.

We live in increasingly perilous times.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.