Trump ally Steve Bannon blasts Elon Musk as ‘truly evil’ in MAGA split
Bannon claimed in an interview with an Italian newspaper that he had made it his “personal mission” to ensure that Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is treated “like any other person” and avoids Trump’s incoming administration.
“He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I set out to kill this person on my own. I was prepared to tolerate it because he put money in, but now that it is no longer tolerated, according to Bannon, whose former media outlet Breitbart News published excerpts over the weekend.
Bannon also said that Musk, a South African-born naturalised US citizen, should “go back” to his place of birth after the billionaire publicly defended the use of the H-1B visa programme to recruit highly-skilled foreign tech workers.
“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”?
Bannon’s broadside comes as Trump’s supporters are divided over how foreign employees work in Silicon Valley.
After Trump’s choice to name Indian American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as an artificial intelligence adviser sparked a wave of anti-far-right and nationalist MAGA supporters, who interpreted the appointment as an endorsement of H-1B visas, the differences started to grow.
Musk, who held an H-1B visa before obtaining US citizenship, hit out at the criticism of foreign workers in Silicon Valley, promising to “go to war on this issue” to a degree “you cannot possibly comprehend”.
Despite taking steps to restrict H-1B visa issuances during his first term, Trump sided with Musk’s comments, calling the visas a “great programme”.
In his newspaper interview, Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term, accused Musk of having the “maturity of a little boy” and attempting to establish “techno-feudalism on a global scale”.
“We’ve seen peak Elon, his intrusive nature, his lack of understanding of the true issues, and, quite frankly, his support of just himself, the sole objective is to become a trillionaire. That’s his objective”, he said.
“He will do anything in this regard to ensure that any of his businesses is safeguarded, have a better deal, or earn more money.” His aggregation of wealth, and then – through wealth – power: that’s what he’s focused on. The American workforce in this country will not tolerate it.
Musk, who frequently contributes to news events on his social media platform X, has not responded to Bannon’s statements in a public manner.
Since publicly backing the Republican in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 and earning a net worth of more than $400 billion, Musk has become one of Trump’s most powerful and influential allies.
Source: Aljazeera
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