Former Trump Adviser: Elon Musk is a “Bad Person”

Steve Bannon, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump and a prominent far-right theorist, criticized billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally, calling him a “bad person.”

The New York Times reported Bannon’s remarks about Trump’s inauguration on January 20 in an interview with the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”: “I will kick Elon Musk out by the time Trump is inaugurated, and he won’t have a pass to enter the White House. He will be like any other person.”

The New York Times added that these comments deepen the animosity between two men who were influential advisers to the president-elect.

Bannon engineered Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential elections and served as his strategic adviser during his first term in the White House.

Since his release from a 4-month prison sentence for contempt of court in October, Bannon has resumed his verbal war with Musk, who invested more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win the 2020 election and has since been a constant presence by his side.

In the interview published last week, Bannon said about Musk: “He’s really a bad person, and stopping him has become a personal issue for me.”

The feud reflects broader tensions within the U.S. right-wing about concerns that Musk, the world’s richest person and owner of the “X” platform, may use his influence to sideline powerful figures within the movement to promote his own agenda.

Musk conducts significant business with the federal government as CEO of SpaceX, and also runs the electric car company Tesla.

Some right-wing figures who initially welcomed Musk now feel deceived, raising questions about the durability of their alliance with him.

Trump enlisted Musk to lead efforts to reduce federal bureaucracy, but it is unclear whether Bannon will play any role in the administration.

Before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Bannon before he faced trial on charges of misusing funds raised for a group supporting the construction of Trump’s border wall.

Musk has not responded to Bannon’s remarks.

One point of contention between them involved maintaining visas for foreign skilled workers in U.S. companies, which some conservatives oppose due to their stance on immigration. Musk supports these visas, as do many tech leaders who argue they help bring workers to their companies.

In the interview, Bannon stated that these visas prevented Americans from securing jobs.

He added that Musk lost the political debate over the visas and questioned whether the billionaire should limit his involvement in U.S. politics, noting that Musk was born and raised in apartheid-era South Africa. Bannon said, “He should go back to South Africa.”