Trump ally Steve Bannon divides MAGA after calling Elon Musk a ‘parasitic illegal immigrant’

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

Published: 19:08 GMT, 18 February 2025 | Updated: 21:51 GMT, 18 February 2025

Steve Bannon fired another shot in his war against Elon Musk this week. 

The 71-year-old former Chief White House Strategist for President Donald Trump gave an interview to the British publication UnHerd, where he unloaded on Musk, who’s become the president’s right-hand man as of late. 

In the Q&A published Tuesday morning, Bannon argued that his more pro-worker version of MAGA was winning out against the so-called ‘broligarchs.’ 

‘Musk is a parasitic illegal immigrant,’ Bannon told UnHerd’s James Billot. ‘He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, values, or traditions.’ 

While Bannon said he wasn’t totally against the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency –  ‘I have to give the devil his due,’ he explained – so far he called the group’s work ‘performative.’

‘I notice there is a hesitancy to cross the Potomac and go to the Pentagon,’ Bannon said. ‘I would like to see $100 billion taken off the $900 billion budget right now, which is really a trillion.’

He also didn’t understand why DOGE’s findings aren’t being shared with the Republican-controlled Congress so the upcoming year’s budget can be trimmed. 

‘DOGE is sitting there with the budget, but where the f*** are the DOGE cuts?’ Bannon mused. ‘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.’ 

Steve Bannon, pictured last week in New York Criminal Court in Manhattan, unloaded on Elon Musk in a new interview with the British publication UnHerd 

Billionaire DOGE-leader Elon Musk (left) stands alongside President Donald Trump last week in the Oval Office 

‘It’s ludicrous,’ the War Room podcast host added. 

Bannon also warned that haphazardly cutting government programs could cost those voters who put Trump back in power. 

‘There are a lot of MAGAs on Medicaid,’ he said, pointing to the program that provides healthcare to low income Americans. ‘I’m telling you, if you don’t think so, you are dead wrong … Just can’t take a meat axe to it, although I would love to.’ 

While Bannon once pledged to have Musk ousted from Trump’s orbit by the swearing-in, now he’s fine if the president wants to ‘wrangle’ the tech bros for a greater end. 

‘The enemy of the enemy is my friend,’ he explained. ‘This country is being destroyed by the Praetorian guard of the administrative state… Elon is helping expose this.’

He also told UnHerd that he trusts that Trump is fully in control of the billionaire’s maneuvering. 

‘It’s pretty evident the president’s using him as an armous-piercing shell that’s delivering blunt force trauma against the administrative state,’ Bannon observed at one point during the sit-down.

At another he said: ‘President Trump says Musk doesn’t do anything that he’s not on top of,’ Bannon said. ‘I take him at his word.’  

Bannon’s allegiance to Trump – despite the president’s continued coziness to Musk – has the former White House strategist pushing for the 78-year-old president to serve a third term.

He’s ‘exploring’ options, he told the publication, to make this happen. 

The only real option would be to amend the U.S. Constitution. 

‘I’m working on making sure they have a correct interpretation of the Constitution,’ Bannon said. ‘I believe that President Trump’s eligible for one more term because I think it says consecutive.’ 

The 22nd Amendment makes clear ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.’ 

‘I don’t have right now a tremendous amount of support on this legally,’ Bannon conceded. ‘But remember, I faced longer odds on many other topics in my life.’ 

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Trump ally Steve Bannon divides MAGA after calling Elon Musk a ‘parasitic illegal immigrant’

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