Former Trump adviser tells Italian newspaper that Tesla CEO intends to introduce “techno-feudalism on a global scale.”
US President-elect Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon has vowed to “drive Elon Musk out of the White House” amid the recent escalation of tensions within the populist MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Bannon said he had made it his personal mission to ensure that Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, had no access to Trump’s new administration and was treated “like any other person.”
“He’s a really bad guy, a very bad guy. I’ve made it my personal mission to take this guy down. “I used to be willing to tolerate it because he was investing money – I’m no longer willing to tolerate it,” Bannon told the newspaper Corriere della Sera, excerpts of which were republished over the weekend by Bannon’s former media company Breitbart News.
Bannon also said that Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa, should “go back” to his birthplace after the billionaire publicly defended the use of the H-1B visa program to recruit high-skilled foreign technology workers.
“Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people in the world, white South Africans, even commenting on what’s going on in the United States?”
Bannon’s broadside comes amid a public disagreement among Trump supporters over the role of foreign employees in Silicon Valley.
The divisions came into stark relief last month after Trump’s decision to appoint Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as an artificial intelligence consultant sparked a wave of abuse from far-right and nationalist MAGA supporters who viewed the appointment as an endorsement of H-1B visas interpreted.
Musk, who held an H-1B visa before gaining U.S. citizenship, responded to criticism from foreign workers in Silicon Valley and vowed to “go to war on this issue” on a scale “that you can’t even imagine.”
Although Trump took steps to limit the issuance of H-1B visas during his first term, he echoed Musk’s comments, calling the visas a “great program.”
In his newspaper interview, Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term, accused Musk of having the “maturity of a little boy” and trying to establish “techno-feudalism on a global scale.”
“We have seen the peak of Elon, his pushy attitude, his lack of understanding of the real issues and, quite frankly, his support only for himself, the only goal being to become a trillionaire. That’s his goal,” he said.
“He will do anything to make sure one of his companies is protected or has a better deal, otherwise he will make more money.” His accumulation of wealth and then – through wealth – power: that’s what he’s focused on. American working people in this country will not tolerate this.”
Musk has become one of Trump’s most powerful and influential allies since publicly supporting the Republican shortly after he narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Trump has included the tech billionaire in meetings with lawmakers and foreign leaders and tapped him to co-head the so-called Ministry of Government Efficiency alongside biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
