Steve Bannon said Tuesday that tech billionaire Elon Musk is “not gonna be totally out” of the MAGA movement, even as the former adviser to President-elect Trump has lobbed criticism at the tech billionaire.
“As soon as I can turn Elon Musk from a techno-feudalist to a populist nationalist, we’ll start making real progress,” Bannon told Politico’s Dasha Burns during the “POLITICO Playbook: The First 100 Days” event, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
“If you can’t turn him, do you want him out?” Burns asked.
Bannon responded that Musk is “not gonna be totally out,” later adding that “when you write $250 million worth of checks, when you’ve got — when you’re that involved, when you have actually backed a ground game, you’re gonna have a seat at the table.”
Musk was recently the target of Bannon’s criticism by way of an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon said to the newspaper. “He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down.”
Bannon also went after Musk’s fellow tech mogul, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a Monday episode of his “Bannon’s War Room” podcast.
“Zuckerberg can’t be trusted, at all,” Bannon said on his show, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “He came in the Oval Office … when I was there. … I went absolutely bonkers, but he still got to the Oval Office.”
“And later, he put up $450 million of his own money to steal the 2020 election,” Bannon added. “To steal the 2020 election. These guys are supplicants now, because President Trump is coming in with the American people [having] his back.”
The Hill has reached out to Tesla for comment.
