'Parasitic illegal immigrant' doing 'freak experiments': Key Trump ally lets loose on Musk
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk walks in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
February 18, 2025
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon had plenty of new insults and criticisms to spew at the president's new favorite, Elon Musk, during an interview Tuesday.
It's the latest in a series of pot-shots Bannon has taken at Musk since President Donald Trump appointed the billionaire to head up the Department of Government Efficiency.
Bannon told writer James Billot with UnHerd that, “Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant. He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, values, or traditions.”
There was a time when Bannon, himself, was one of Donald Trump's favorites, even taking up space in the White House as chief strategist during the first Trump administration. Now, Bannon has been relegated to podcasting and voicing his displeasure at what he sees as the second administration's shortcomings.
"Bannon’s populism, rooted in stoking working-class grievances," has now been pitted against "Musk’s burn-it-all-down ethos that has already seen DOGE marshal the firing of thousands of federal employees, access the systems of key departments, and push to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development," wrote Sean Craig for The Daily Beast.
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Bannon told UnHerd that Musk's "priorities" were out of whack, and accused him of "failing to achieve enough cuts while ignoring the massive Defense Department budget."
“DOGE is sitting there with the budget, but where the f--- are the DOGE cuts?“ Bannon asked. ”We are 30 days away from approving a budget for the entire year with $2 trillion already baked in, and not one penny of anything that DOGE found. It’s ludicrous.”
Bannon added: “I notice there is a hesitancy to cross the Potomac and go to the Pentagon. I would like to see $100 billion taken off the $900 billion budget right now, which is really a trillion.”
The former Trump advisor nearly had something nice to say about Musk, telling UnHerd that although DOGE is merely 'performative,' he still thinks Musk has a purpose as an 'armor-piercing shell that’s delivering blunt force trauma against the administrative state.'"