Elon Musk is a ‘nasty person,’ says Steve Bannon

Stephen K. Bannon has launched a scathing attack on Elon Musk, calling him a “really nasty person,” in comments that deepen hostilities between two men who have served as influential advisers to President-elect Donald J. Trump.

“I will have Elon Musk expelled the moment he is inaugurated,” Mr. Bannon said of Mr. Trump’s inauguration on January 20, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera. “He will not have a blue pass with full access to the White House. He will be like everyone else.

Mr Bannon was one of the architects of Mr Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election and served for a time as chief strategist during his first term in the White House. Since his release in October after a four-month stay in federal prison for contempt, Mr. Bannon has renewed his war of words with Mr. Musk, who invested more than a quarter of a billion dollars in Mr. . Trump in 2017. November and has since become a constant presence at his side.

In the interview published last week, Mr. Bannon said of Mr. Musk: “He’s a really mean person. Quitting became a personal issue for me.

The insults reflect broader tension on the right in the United States over the direction of the movement championed by Mr Trump and fears that Mr Musk – the world’s richest person and owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – could use its influence to sideline powerful figures in this movement in order to promote its own agenda. Mr. Musk does significant business with the federal government as chief executive of SpaceX and also runs the automaker Tesla.

Some right-wing figures who initially welcomed Mr. Musk’s entry into Republican politics now say they feel cheated, raising questions about the sustainability of their alliance.