As the two people compete to win over President-elect Donald Trump’s attention on immigration issues during his second term in office, Steve Bannon and Elon Musk fought back.
A , top adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later second term in office, Bannon was commonly viewed as one of the most prominent citizens in the president-elect’s circle before his strong fall from grace in 2017. In recent months, Musk has also assumed the role of top Trump supporter, while the president-elect has harshly criticized Bannon as one who , “doesn’t signify my center” and has “lost his mind”.
In an interview with the Roman newspaper Corriere della Sera, Bannon, who usually remains a Trump zealot, made an effort to establish his hold on the approaching administration, promising to have Elon Musk run out by the inauguration day.
” He is a really bad man, a very negative guy”, Bannon said. I set out to take this guy down for my own good.
He continued to propose Musk was prejudiced, citing his North American roots.
” He may go back to South Africa”, Bannon said. ” Why do we have South Africans, the most prejudiced people on Earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States”?
The two gentlemen are antagonists in many ways, despite having sought after one of Trump’s internal group. Musk tends toward a rational prospect with a liberal run, while Bannon is known as a hard-line right-wing thinker.
The two have both known the president-elect for decades, but Bannon’s authority has waned yet as Musk’s” star“, as Trump put it, has risen.
” Where’s my Steve? Where’s my Steve”? The president-elect’s alleged comments about Bannon years previously show how reliant on him as the person responsible for his first national victory and campaign in 2016 All of that came to an end when Bannon lost his job in the White House and spent a brief period of time in jail last year after being found guilty of contempt of Congress.
However, Musk has become one of the most effective players in Trumpworld, often being described as the president-elect’s” initial friend”.
Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, made the information during an interview with the New York Post earlier this month, saying,” Who wouldn’t want one of the brightest minds of our day in the circle of people doing the proper thing for this country”?
The capacity has unfolded since Trump initially tapped Musk to function on an economic , expert board , in December 2016. After Musk somewhat fought against Trump’s 2017 restrictions on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the United States, a plan that Bannon engineered, their marriage developed.
One of Bannon and Musk’s previous tense conflicts is about the travel restrictions. Bannon’s assault on Musk in 2023 over the software mogul’s factories in China exemplified their aggressive viewpoints.
The two have not always clashed, yet. In mid-December of this year, Bannon called Musk “brilliant,” applauding him for his command in the Department of Government Performance after Trump appointed him to lead the work pressure to reduce administrative spend. He has even praised the hard work that Musk did to support Trump in the national poll of 2024.
But,  , their rivalry erupted again in late December, mainly over disagreements on H-1B permits.
Elon Musk has backed the visas, claiming they are necessary to address disturbing labor gaps and have contributed to the growth of major U.S. companies like Tesla and SpaceX. He and other top Trump allies, including Vivek Ramaswamy, have argued that the visa are required because the government’s social “mediocrity” has led to a widespread decrease in U. S. workers choosing to do very competent careers.
Trump stated on December 27 that the explanation I’m in America along with so many important people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and plenty of other successful businesses is because of H1B. ” Get a great step up and F*** YOURSELF in the face. You won’t understand why I would go to battle on this matter.
Trump has supported Musk’s claim that the visa fill crucial skill gaps in the American workplace, despite Bannon’s criticism of the policy due to concerns that it might harm American citizens and lower their wages.
Trump retaliated against Bannon’s suggestion that international students attending American institutions should be forced to go back to their home countries as far back as November 2015.
” We have to be mindful of that, Steve”, Trump said during a radio appearance with Bannon. ” You know, we have to keep our skilled people in this country. Do you believe with that, in your opinion?
Bannon was anxious.
” When two-thirds or three-quarters of the Directors in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think … a country is more than an economy”, he said. ” We’re a political world”.
Bannon once more expressed his strong suspicion about H-1B permits in an interview with Stephen Miller, a brother immigration bird and Trump’s top adviser, claiming that “engineering classrooms full of people from South Asia and East Asia” were stealing work from American students.
In a podcast interview in late December, Bannon posed those concerns to Musk. Ripping the tech mogul over his support for H-1B visas,  , Bannon warned that he should” sit in the back and study” or” we’re going to rip your face off”.
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Bannon made the suggestion that Musk’s statements were motivated by sinister reasons during his most recent interview with the Italian newspaper last week.
Musk’s” sole objective is to become a trillionaire”, Bannon said. He promises to do everything to protect, improve, or increase the profits of any of his businesses. His aggregation of wealth, and then, through wealth, power — that’s what he’s focused on”.
