Steve Bannon is going to war with Elon Musk, and he’s not holding back. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and current host of War Room, has made it his personal mission to keep Musk far away from President Trump’s White House when Trump returns to office. The gloves are off, and Bannon isn’t mincing words.
“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon declared. “He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person.” That’s about as clear as it gets. Bannon is drawing a hard line, and Musk won’t be crossing it.
So, what’s behind this feud? Bannon is furious over Musk’s unwavering support for the H1B visa program, which allows tech companies to import cheap foreign labor—primarily from India—at the expense of American workers. Bannon’s not wrong when he points out that the system is rigged. “76 percent of engineers working in Silicon Valley are non-Americans,” Bannon said, highlighting how Big Tech exploits the immigration system to pad profits. And let’s be honest, American tech workers are getting the short end of the stick.
But it’s not just about immigration. “He went out of his way to mock our movement, and he lost,” Bannon said. “We blew him out of the water. He won’t fight. He’s got the maturity of a little boy.”
Bannon also didn’t hold back on Musk’s background, calling out the tech billionaire for being part of Silicon Valley’s elite class that’s disconnected from everyday Americans. “Peter Thiel, David Sachs, Elon Musk are all white South Africans. He should go back to South Africa. Why do we have South Africans, the most r-cist people on earth, making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?” Bannon slammed.
At the core of Bannon’s criticism is Musk’s pursuit of wealth and power. “He will do anything to make sure that any one of his companies is protected or has a better deal or he makes more money,” Bannon argued. “His aggregation of wealth, and then—through wealth—power: that’s what he’s focused on.”
Sure, Musk has thrown money at Trump’s campaign, but Bannon isn’t impressed. “What’s not positive is when all of a sudden he tries to put his half-baked ideas, which are really about the implementation of techno-feudalism on a global scale,” Bannon said. “I don’t support that, and we’ll fight it.”
Bannon’s message is clear: Musk might be a billionaire, but money won’t buy him influence in Trump’s America.