Mike Huckabee: The Left's Targeting of Elon Musk Is in Full Swing
Before we get into the story of what the left is trying to do to Elon Musk for daring to expose the truth about Twitter, here’s an update on Jan. 6 and Jacob Chansley.
Chansley, alternately dubbed the “QAnon shaman,” was sentenced to four years in prison simply for going into the Capitol building in a Viking helmet and, escorted by hospitable Capitol Police officers who even opened the door for him, peacefully entering the Senate chamber.
The video of this peaceful stroll that Tucker Carlson revealed on Monday was exculpatory to Chansley, though J6 prosecutors had withheld it from the court as well as his defense.
Chansley’s attorney, Albert Watkins, had never seen this evidence (!) until it was aired Monday, and he appeared on Tucker’s show on Wednesday, saying it was his job as Chansley’s attorney to know everything “good and bad” that the government had before his client made the decision to go to trial or take a plea.
It’s obvious now that the government knew Chansley was not violent, that he had simply walked around, casually accompanied by nine officers. Watkins had requested what video evidence was available, but “I didn’t get it,” he said.
What’s happened is “a dagger in the heart of our American justice system,” he said.
After this derailment of justice, Chansley should be released from prison immediately. This innocent man also deserves restitution for his long time behind bars, and he and his lawyer will have to determine what form that should take.
“We’re living through one of those clarifying moments,” Carlson said Wednesday. “We’re learning exactly who the liars are.” And the liars have nothing to fall back on but rage and, of course, more lies. A must-watch… (The Capitol Police have since responded; scroll to the end for that.)
Some people just can’t stop lying, even when the truth is right there for all to see.
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the Jan. 6 kangaroo kommittee, actually disputed Carlson’s claims that they deceptively edited security footage from that day, when we absolutely know they did. And he apparently didn’t even know that Chansley had been sentenced to four years in prison. “I don’t know who he is,” Thompson said. If ignorance is bliss, he must be supremely happy.
Chris Bray at American Greatness reported that Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger tried to refute the video of Capitol officers escorting a peaceful Chansley around the building by claiming that they did that as a “de-escalation tactic” because they were outnumbered by the rioters and thought it would be prudent to engage with him peacefully.
OK, that explains why they showed him around. But he’s sitting in a prison cell because he was convicted of violently attacking the building. The police chief’s own explanation is an admission that that crime didn’t happen. In fact, he’s giving his officers credit for preventing it! So why is Chansley in a federal prison, again?
Bray makes a great point that this is the only specific refutation of any of Carlson’s claims by his critics. The left is railing furiously against him, calling him everything from Hitler (of course) to a “demonic sycophant” (Michael Steele on MSNBC), and claiming that by showing Americans the unedited video evidence, he’ll be responsible for “the next Jan. 6.” Yet not a single one of them has even tried to factually refute any of his points that upend their narratives.
Now, on to Elon Musk, who, ever since his personal assault on public-private censorship that we find nothing less than heroic, has been subjected to an all-out assault from the left.
It’s usually very easy to see when this kind of orchestrated attack has begun, as some memo/mantra is always sent out to key media friends, advising them to start using certain focus group-tested verbiage. With Musk, for example, they know to tie his name to Rupert Murdoch’s whenever possible. Jeff Charles at RedState has noticed this, too.
Those on the left who wanted Twitter to maintain control of the political narrative were not going to go quietly when Musk stepped in to stop them. As Charles put it, “the authoritarian left went into full meltdown mode over the prospect of not having supremacy over the platform any longer.” And it’s all Elon’s fault!
The left used to love Elon. Why, he was building electric cars! Cars that few besides Leo DiCaprio could afford to drive, but still!
However, once he recognized and called attention to the gaslighting being done by the left, that love turned to hate, and they threw everything they had at him to see what would stick.
They accused him of continuing to allow child pornography on Twitter. They claimed that by not moderating content the way they saw fit, he was increasing bigotry and hate on Twitter. And now, even the Federal Trade Commission has targeted him. (We’ll get to that.)
The BBC conducted its own investigation and concluded that hundreds of accounts recently allowed back on Twitter have been “spreading abuse or misinformation.” It said it found “problematic content [editorial aside: a favorite leftist cliche] posted on the platform in over a third” of the accounts that had been restored. Read Charles’ report for details of the very objective “study,” which focused only on accounts with right-leaning views. Progressives who engaged in the type of behavior they were purportedly studying got no mention.
Another reason the left is coming after Elon is that he’s not scared of them and will hit right back, brilliantly. Take this example…
And now, Michael Shellenberger, one of the independent journalists given access to internal communications at Twitter, has tweeted, “The Biden administration is demanding that [Elon Musk] explain why he allowed journalists access to the Twitter Files. This is an outrageous attack on the First Amendment. … I look forward to discussing this directly with members of Congress on Thursday morning.”
Unbelievably, the FTC is demanding to see journalists’ work related to the Twitter Files.
Shellenberger went on: “There is no logical reason why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter. There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter’s personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.”
“The strong inference from these facts is that Twitter’s rediscovered focus on free speech is being met with politically motivated attempts to thwart Elon Musk’s goals,” he continued.
“The FTC’s demands did not occur in a vacuum. They appear to be the result of loud voices on the left — including elected officials — urging the federal government to intervene in Musk’s acquisition and management of the company. The FTC’s harassment of Twitter is likely due to one fact: Musk’s self-described ‘absolutist’ commitment to free expression in the digital town square.”
Shellenberger testified about this before the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. In a report, the committees state that as part of their responsibility to protect civil liberties, and “consistent with the Committee’s oversight responsibilities of the FTC, the Committee has been conducting oversight of the unusual response by the FTC to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last year.”
The FTC sent over a dozen letters to Twitter over a span of three months following Musk’s acquisition, making more than 350 specific demands. New information the committee has acquired “shows how the FTC has been attempting to harass Twitter and pry into the company’s decisions on matters outside the FTC’s mandate.”
Here’s the full subcommittee report.
Dan Bongino had plenty to say on his Wednesday podcast: “What business is it of the FTC to question a private business, Elon Musk’s Twitter, over their HR decisions [hiring practices, etc.]?” None whatsoever. “It’s a freaking police state apparatchik of Joe Biden’s new police state,” he said. The Biden appointee running the FTC, Lina Khan, is a “freaking lunatic,” he said, “a crazy person drunk with power who is destroying that entity.”
“I expect lawsuits and hearings on this immediately,” Bongino said. “This is a big deal. … Please don’t let this go. Contact your congresswoman or congressman today and ask them about this because if this continues — this bureaucratic police state that just usurps power starts demanding this, demanding that — then there’s nothing left, folks.”
He’s right about calling our representatives — we’ve got to start taking a more activist role.
In the meantime, even Biden is marching in step with the left’s targeting of Musk. Months ago, when asked if Musk, after his joint acquisition of Twitter “with foreign governments that include the Saudis,” was a threat to national security, Biden chuckled and said, very slowly and deliberately, “Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.”
Biden is one to talk about relationships with other countries, but we’ll just let that sit.
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