President-elect Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon attacked Elon Musk and vowed to try and curb his influence over the incoming administration.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Bannon took aim at Musk’s views on the hotly debated H-1B immigration visa for highly skilled workers and the influence his companies exert over U.S politics. Bannon sprinkled in several personal barbs, alleging Musk had the “maturity of a little boy.”
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy,” Bannon said. “I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”
The theme of the interview was Bannon’s displeasure over Musk’s proximity to Trump and his White House staff. Bannon said he wanted to limit Musk’s access to the White House in a second Trump administration, vowing to do so by Inauguration Day.
Bannon also questioned Musk’s presence in U.S. politics on the grounds that he was not born in the country. “He should go back to South Africa,” Bannon said. “Why do we have white South Africans, the most racist people on earth, making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States.”
Bannon and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Musk has denied accusations of racism in the past, including as recently as last week. On Friday in replying to an X post about anti-white racism, Musk wrote that “racism of any kind is unacceptable.”
Bannon was once a key advisor to Trump, during the president’s first run in 2016. However, Bannon now finds himself outside the President-elect’s inner circle. Trump fired Bannon in 2017, in part because of Bannon’s outspoken nature. At the time, Bannon had given an interview contradicting Trump’s position on North Korea and insulting his trade advisors, which infuriated the then President. Shortly after, Trump tagged him with the nickname, “Sloppy Steve.” Bannon recently returned home from a stint in federal prison after being convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to appear before the subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
In recent weeks, Bannon and Musk clashed over their differing views on H-1B visas, which opened a rift in conservative circles. On one side stood tech industry executives like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also his partner on the external audit group known as the Department of Governmental Efficiency. They supported the visas on the grounds they help recruit global talent to American firms. Bannon was on the more isolationist side of the debate that argued such visas deprived American workers of opportunities because tech firms preferred to hire employees from abroad.
Bannon accused Musk of wanting to use his political influence to benefit himself and his companies. Musk’s “sole objective is to become a trillionaire,” Bannon said. “His aggregation of wealth, and then—through wealth—power: that’s what he’s focused on.”
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $426 billion, according to Bloomberg. The majority of his net worth comes from his shares of Tesla, the electric vehicle company he led to unprecedented highs in the stock market. In December Musk’s net worth officially crossed $400 billion, making him the first person to reach that milestone.
Bannon noted he was in favor of Musk using his vast financial resources to support political candidates and movements he supported. In the U.S., Musk donated roughly $277 million in support of Trump’s reelection. This month Musk shifted his focus to European politics, which Bannon also welcomed.
However, in Bannon’s view, Musk only turned his attention to European politics because he wanted to “change the conversation” after the controversial debate about H-1B visas.
“He just had a huge defeat here in America,” Bannon said. “He was adamant that the H-1B visas were central to the economic benefits of the United States. He went out of his way to mock our movement as racist and r——s, and he lost. We blew him out of the water. He won’t fight.”
On the question of H-1B visas, Trump ultimately sided with Musk and Ramaswamy over Bannon and his supporters. That in and of itself was a reversal for Trump, who had limited H-1B visas during his first term, much to the chagrin of corporate America.
