Days after fawning over what tech magnate Elon Musk’s deep pockets could do for the MAGA movement, Steve Bannon went berserk on the world’s richest man and vowed to limit his White House influence.
Bannon, 71, who hosts the “War Room” podcast and has a penchant for plotting all-out brass-knuckled political warfare, suggested Musk “should go back to South Africa” and decried his stance on H1-B visas.
“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera last week, per excerpts translated by his former employer Breitbart. “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.
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” he went on. “Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it. I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”
Last month, just before Christmas, a war erupted within the MAGA movement between the tech bros and immigration hardliners over H1-B visas, which permit foreign workers to come to the US for specialty occupations.
Musk, 53, a US citizen who emigrated from South Africa, emerged as a fierce defender of H1-B visas. President-elect Donald Trump, 78, eventually backed Musk’s stance and the tech billionaire. But Bannon hasn’t let the H1-B visa flap go. More here