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Steve Bannon says ‘evil’ Elon Musk ‘should go back to South Africa,’ vows to limit his White House influence

"I made it my personal thing to take this guy down,” Steve Bannon said of Elon Musk. 

Published on: Jan 13, 2025, 18:46:25 IST
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War Room podcast host Steve Bannon went berserk on Elon Musk, vowing to limit his White House influence. Bannon suggested that the world’s richest man “should go back to South Africa,” and also slammed his stance on H1-B visas.

Steve Bannon says ‘evil’ Elon Musk ‘should go back to South Africa' (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo)
Steve Bannon says ‘evil’ Elon Musk ‘should go back to South Africa' (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo)

“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, according to 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 added. “Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it. I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”

‘He should go back to South Africa’

Amid a recent debate on H1-B visas between the tech bros and immigration hardliners, Musk emerged as a defender of the visas. Donald Trump eventually backed Musk on the issue.

Addressing the same, Bannon said, “This thing of the H-1B visas, it’s about the entire immigration system is gamed by the tech overlords, they use it to their advantage, the people are furious.”

Blasting other big-name billionaire Trump backers, Bannon said, “Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Elon Musk, are all white South Africans. He should go back to South Africa. Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”

Amid reports of Musk spending a lot of time with Trump, Bannon claimed the X owner’s “sole objective is to become a trillionaire.” “[Musk] will do anything to make sure that any one of his companies is protected or has a better deal or he makes more money,” he said. “His aggregation of wealth, and then — through wealth — power: that’s what he’s focused on.”

Despite their differences, however, Bannon acknowledged in a different interview last week that Musk joining the MAGA movement could in fact be an important boon, and also took note of his efforts to wade into European politics. “I support his participation because the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Bannon told Bloomberg. “Musk just spent a quarter of a billion dollars to elect Trump.”

He added, “If he puts the same amount of money into all of Europe that he put behind Trump, he will flip every nation to a populist agenda. There’s not a centrist left-wing government in Europe that will be able to withstand that onslaught.”

  • Sumanti Sen
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Sumanti Sen

    Sumanti Sen covers everything that’s happening in the US, from politics to entertainment, but her expertise lies in covering crime news. She has comprehensively chronicled the Idaho student murders, the Laken Riley and Iryna Zarutska cases, and the killing of Charlie Kirk, among other incidents. Over the years, she has interviewed several victims/families of victims of crimes seeking justice. She digs up stories that might otherwise remain unheard, and does her bit to ensure that victims and survivors’ voices are heard. Sumanti’s many years of experience also include interviews with Hamas attack survivors and mental health experts, among others. Her coverage of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and interviews with survivors of the tragedy, coupled with her other works including the Titan submersible coverage, earned her the Digi Journo of the Quarter award during her first year at Hindustan Times. Sumanti actively tracks missing person cases in the United States, and peruses Reddit and other social media platforms to bring to light cases that frequently elude public attention. She has extensively covered the disappearances of Nancy Guthrie, Thomas Medlin, Beau Mann, and Sudiksha Konanki, among others. When not at work, you will either find her with her novels, or with her beloved rescue pooches.Read More

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