'Scam by the oligarchs!' Steve Bannon piles on Elon Musk in MAGA civil war

Former Donald Trump adviser turned far-right pundit Steve Bannon came down hard against tech billionaire Elon Musk in the battle that flared up this week between right-wing businessmen and the MAGA activist class, The New Republic reported on Friday.

The heart of the issue is the H1-B visa system, which is used to give work permits to high-skilled white collar workers, like software engineers, who want to immigrate to the U.S. Musk, who was born in South Africa and ironically has been reported as once having worked illegally in the U.S. himself, relies on these programs at many of his companies, which puts him at odds with much of the MAGA community that not only wants to crack down on illegal immigration, but restrict legal immigration as well.

A growing xenophobic backlash in the far-right against Indian tech workers in particular, triggered by Trump's nomination of Sriram Krishnan as an AI policy adviser, has added fuel to the fire.

Bannon, who lauded Musk for helping Trump win the election but just a year prior was blasting him as selling "snake oil," made it clear which side he is on in a new tirade in his "War Room" show on Friday.

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“H-1B visas? That’s not what it’s about. It’s about taking American jobs and bringing over essentially what have become indentured servants at lower wages,” said Bannon. “This thing’s a scam by the oligarchs in Silicon Valley to basically take jobs from American citizens, give them to what become indentured servants from foreign countries, and then pay ‘em less. Simple. To let them in through the golden door.”

Bannon's commentary comes shortly after Laura Loomer, a self-described "Proud Islamophobe," Trump confidante, and multiple-time failed congressional candidate in Florida, blew up at Musk on his own X platform for the same reason. "The elephant in the room is that Elon Musk, who is not MAGA and never has been, is a total f------ drag on the Trump transition," she raged. "He's a stage 5 clinger who over stayed his welcome at Mar-a-Lago in an effort to... be the point man for all his accomplices in big Tech to slither in."

According to Loomer, her premium subscription and monetization on Musk's platform were summarily revoked shortly after she fired off her criticisms.