– I will make Elon Musk run away from here before Donald Trump's inauguration. He will not have full access to the White House, announced former adviser to the US president-elect Steve Bannon. In an interview with “Corriere della Serra”, he calls the owner of Tesla and SpaceX a “bad guy” and recommends him to “go back to South Africa”.
In recent days, the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” published an interview with the former adviser Donald Trump and his 2016 campaign manager, Steve Bannon. In the conversation he comments critically, among others: about Elon Musk.
– He's a really bad guy. “I made it my goal to take him down,” Bannon said. – Previously, I was ready to tolerate it because he donated money (to Trump's campaign – ed.), but I'm not ready for it anymore – he added. – I will make it Elon Musk he will run away from here before being sworn in (Trump, January 20 – ed.). He will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person, he said.
“The Guardian” reminds that, according to reports, Musk donated approximately $270 million to the Republican's campaign, and currently remains in his closest circle. The president-elect announced that he is a billionaire will head the “state efficiency department”which will be an external advisory body that will work with the White House on structural reforms of the state.
“He should go back to South Africa”
In an interview with the newspaper, Bannon also criticized Musk's favorable approach to H-1B visas, i.e. visas issued to specialists from abroad so that they can work in USA. – The point is that the entire immigration system is being gamed by technological overlords. They use it to their advantage. People are angry, he said. The Guardian notes that the issuance of such visas is opposed by many supporters of the MAGA movement, who are hostile to any form of immigration.
Bannon said that Musk's “only goal is to become a trillionaire” and called him a supporter of “techno-feudalism on a global scale.” – I don't support it, we will fight it. He won't fight, he has the maturity of a little boy. He will do anything to make sure that each of his companies is protected, gets a better deal or he himself makes more money, he said. “What the focus is on is the aggregation of wealth and then, through wealth, power,” he added.
– He should go back to South Africa. Why do South Africans (…) even comment on what is happening in the United States? – added Bannon, referring to the fact that Musk comes from South Africa.
Who is Steve Bannon?
Bannon managed Trump's 2016 election campaign, and after he won the election, he became “Chief Strategist for the White House.” He left in August 2017, which was presented as a joint decision of the parties, although according to the media he was fired.
In 2022 he was sentenced to four months in prison for refusing to cooperate with members of Congress investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Although he did not play any formal role in the administration at that time, he was considered one of the main people participating in the meetings and organizing a demonstration that ended in riots and an attack on the seat of the United States Congress.
In his last hours in office in 2021 Trump pardoned Bannon when he was accused of embezzlement money from an online collection for the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border.
Main photo source: CJ GUNTHER, SARAH YENESEL/PAP/EPA