World’s richest man and owner of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, has defended his claim that the United Kingdom may be headed for a civil war if the country failed to secure its borders.

Musk put up this defence during an interview with the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist Zanny Beddoes. He denied that he was encouraging violence in the UK by supporting those the interviewer called “far right” groups.

Musk further explained his foray into Europe’s immigration debate, saying that he only painted a picture of what might happen if people of contrary laws and lifestyle were allowed to impose their ways of life on the people they met.

“I would like to just admonish you (the interviewer) and the media for the absurd characterization of the far right, which is false, and misleading and nonsense,” he said. Musk described the groups campaigning against uncontrolled immigration in the UK and other parts of Europe as “normal people”.

He said his interest is solely to ensure the West has “secure borders, safe cities and sensible spending.”

“Civil War in Britain is Inevitable”

Given the large following Musk commands, close to 240 million on X alone, Beddoes considered his views as dangerous, as they shape the actions of many people. She demanded to know why Musk would post “Civil war in Britain is inevitable” in his warning against uncontrolled immigration to the UK.

The tech giant replied: “Well, if you have a large and growing, rapidly growing group of people whose beliefs are antithetical to Western beliefs, at some point there will be a reckoning. 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.”

Musk challenged Beddoes, who herself lives in Britain, to go on a tour of her country and see for herself, questioning why the media was not doing enough to fight censorship in Britain. She accused Musk of painting a dystopian picture of Europe by encouraging vigilante violence through his social media posts, saying it’s an inaccurate picture of Europe. But Musk denied the allegation.

“Media Keeps Ignoring Reality”

Earlier, Musk had alluded to what he described as the civilizational changes he foresaw happening in Europe, prompting Beddoes to ask if Musk was a racist. He denied being a racist, explaining that his family is mixed race, just as his companies employ people of different races, even at senior executive level.

Asked if he’s anti-Muslim, Musk repeated his stance: “If people are coming to your country with antithetical views, I am against that,” referring to the practice of Muslims demanding implementation of Sharia Laws as against the laws and belief systems they met in their host countries.