Elon Musk has predicted Steve Bannon is “going back to prison” after the two former Trump advisors reignited their bitter feud this week. Bannon, in turn, told Musk to “go back to South Africa.”
Following Musk’s most recent spat with the president on Tuesday, which saw Trump threaten to deport the billionaire after taking “a good, hard look” at Tesla’s government subsidies, an X user referenced Bannon’s previous suggestion that the president nationalize SpaceX.
“Bannon is going back to prison. This time for a long time,” Musk tweeted in response, referring to his four month stint behind bars in 2024 for refusing to comply with a Congressional investigation into the Jan 6 riots.
Bannon, never one to back down, responded by saying he “f—ing hates” Musk and accused him of being neither a true MAGA nor a conservative, the New York Times reported on Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Podcast.
“Elon Musk doesn’t care about the working class voter,” Bannon said. “He doesn’t care about Trump’s campaign promises to those people. He just cares about his own share price and net worth.”
Bannon is going back to prison. This time for a long time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2025
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters he would look into deporting Musk form the United States and floated the idea of having the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cannibalize its former leader’s companies.
“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t that be terrible?”
“He gets a lot of subsidies, but Elon is very upset that the EV mandate is going to be terminated,” Trump added.
Responding to Trump deportation remarks, Musk wrote on X: “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.”
Earlier in June, Bannon urged the president to call for a special counsel investigation into Musk’s alleged drug use, advising the White House to “go in and say with the new management, we’re going to nationalize SpaceX because it’s a government entity anyway, with 90 percent of the revenues.”
Musk responded to Bannon’s comments at the time by calling him a “r——d liar. Dumber than a doorstop,” before later doubling-down and labelling him “truly peak r—-d.”
Bannon, the former head of Breitbart media, was a key aide during Trump’s first term and still a loyal supporter of the president even following his departure from Trump’s inner circle.
Musk, on the other hand, has gone hard against Trump, threatening to bankroll primaries for any Republicans who vote in favor of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and pitching a new “America Party” the day after the bill passes in the House.
Speaking on his War Room podcast, Bannon said, “Elon Musk is saying he’s starting a new party. You know, here’s what I love. A guy starting the America party is not an American. I love a South African—Hey, yo, dude, go back to South Africa. Start the South African party. Sort your own country out, right? Stop trash-talking President Trump because you got cut out everything.”
He also previously threatened to physically fight Musk on his podcast earlier this month after the billionaire endorsed a post on X calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with JD Vance.
“You’re going to tell me we should allow some f—ing punk to sit there and say he should be impeached, and JD should step in?” Bannon told Politico at the time. “F— you, dude. We’re going to go to f—ing war, and I’m going to rip your f—ing face off.”
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