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Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime ally, has pledged to have it tech billionaire Elon Musk White House “burnout” amid heated debate over H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers.
Bannon made the remarks about Musk, whom President-elect Trump has tapped to co-head the Department of Government Efficiency, in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Bannon’s former employer, Breitbart, published excerpts of the interview in English.
“I’m going to have Elon Musk out of here on Inauguration Day,” said Bannon, a former Trump White House adviser. “He will not have full access to the White House. He will be like anyone else.”
“He’s a really bad guy, a really bad guy,” Bannon continued. “I made it my staff to bring this guy down. Before, because I put money into it, I was willing to tolerate it; I’m not willing to tolerate it anymore.”
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Steve Bannon called Musk “a really bad guy, a really bad guy” and vowed that Musk would “stay” out of the White House. (Reuters/Rebecca Cook, file)
Bannon’s discussion with Musk appeared to be about immigration, specifically Musk’s support H-1B visas which allow US companies to hire foreign workers for skilled occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the technology industry.
“This thing about H-1B visas, it’s about the whole immigration system being played by the tech lords, they’re using it to their advantage, people are furious,” Bannon said.
Software engineers and others in the tech industry have used H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers and say they are a critical tool for hard-to-fill positions. It has long been controversial to some conservatives, who say tech companies abuse cheap labor to replace American workers.
Musk has championed the tech industry’s push to bring more foreign workers to the US (ALLISON ROBBERT/Pool via REUTERS/File photo)
Born in South Africa, Musk held an H-1B visa himself and defended the push of the sector to bring in foreign workers.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It’s the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.”
Online discussion on H-1B visas led Moss to label those in the Republican Party opposed the visas as “hateful and unrepentant racists,” and stressed the need for “a meritocratic society.”
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Bannon said Musk “should go back” to South Africa.
“Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people in the world, white South Africans, commenting on what’s going on in America?” Bannon said.
“He will do anything to make sure any of his companies are protected or get a better deal or make more money,” Bannon said of Musk. “His aggregation of wealth, and then, through wealth, power — that’s what he’s focused on.”
Bannon was released from prison in October after completing a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena related to a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 incident at the State Capitol united
While Musk’s influence on entry Trump administration Unclear, Trump has appeared to side with the tech billionaire on H-1B visas.
“I’ve always liked visas, I’ve always been in favor of visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post last month “I have a lot of H-1B visas in my properties. I’ve believed in H-1B. I’ve used it many times. It’s a great program.”
Trump has criticized H-1B visas in the past, calling them “really bad” and “unfair” to American workers, and even unveiled a “Hire American” policy that directing changes to the program to try to ensure that visas were awarded to the highest paid or most qualified applicants.
Adam Shaw of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
