Elon Musk and Steve Bannon escalated their feud over the July Fourth weekend by exchanging fiery insults over their respective platforms.
On Bannon’s podcast War Room, the former Trump adviser raged against Musk for polling his X followers about starting a new political party in the United States, saying Musk was being disingenuous and should be deported.
“Only a foreigner could do this,” Bannon said. “Think about it, he’s got up on Twitter right now a poll about starting an American Party – a non-American starting an American Party. No, brother, you’re not an American; you’re a South African.”
“If we take enough time and prove the facts of that, you should be deported,” Bannon stated.
Bannon, a devoted Trump loyalist who went to federal prison for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena, believes Musk has ulterior motives for being close to the president. He’s called for Musk to be investigated multiple times.
On Musk’s X account, the tech billionaire responded by calling Bannon a “fat, drunken slob” who should be in prison for committing crimes.
“The fat, drunken slob called Bannon will go back to prison and this time for a long time. He has a lifetime of crime to pay for,” Musk wrote.
Musk has been a United States citizen since 2002.
Despite the two men being close to Trump at various periods, they have little in common.
Unlike Trump’s first administration, Bannon does not have a formal role in the White House. But he has still used his platform to bolster Trump and defend him against all attacks. Bannon has been vocal about his disdain for Musk, advocating for the revocation of his government contracts and questioning his citizenship status.
Musk, who helped get Trump elected with generous donations, spent several months in the administration before a bitter falling out with the president over their different perspectives on Trump’s signature legislation.
As a result of the recent falling out, Bannon appears to have upped his attacks on Musk.
The hostile relationship between the two escalated specifically because Musk polled his 221 million X followers about launching a new political party, called the “America Party,” on Independence Day.
