Latest news with #Bannon'sWarRoom
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bannon: Musk should be ‘deported from the country immediately'
MAGA insider and former White House adviser Steve Bannon called on President Trump to investigate Elon Musk's immigration status and deport the South African tech billionaire after the bitter implosion of the president's relationship with Musk on Thursday. 'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,' Bannon, a frequent critic of Musk, told The New York Times on Thursday. Musk and Trump spent much of Thursday afternoon trading barbs after their dispute over Trump's agenda-setting One Big Beautiful Bill Act erupted into a blistering public feud. During an appearance on his 'Bannon's War Room' live webcast, Bannon continued to lob attacks at the former head of the White House's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'Elon Musk is illegal, and he's got to go,' Bannon said. 'He's illegal? Deport immediately.' 'You're going to ship these other people home. Let's start with the South Africans, OK?' he added, alluding to the Trump administration's sweeping immigration crackdown. Musk, one of the largest donors to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign at roughly $250 million, was born and grew up in South Africa before he emigrated to Canada and later moved to the U.S., where he became a citizen while growing his tech empire, which includes SpaceX, the social platform X, Tesla and other endeavors. The Washington Post reported last year that Musk worked in the country illegally before gaining citizenship, prompting questions from Bannon and others about whether Musk's citizenship is legal. Bannon also noted Musk's reported drug usage as potential ammo for prompting his deportation. The New York Times reported last week that Musk's alleged use of ketamine and other substances on the campaign trail sparked concerns in Trump circles, but Musk denied the claims. 'The drug thing is going to be investigated,' Bannon said. Trump and Musk's relationship began to sour in recent days as Musk lashed out over the Trump-backed megabill currently under review in Congress. Musk called it a 'disgusting abomination,' while Trump pushed back and defended the bill. Bannon said he supports Trump's latest suggestion that Musk's massive government contracts should be pulled. 'It needs dramatic action. I would pull all the contracts immediately,' Bannon said. He also blasted Musk's abrupt and abrasive attacks against Trump, which escalated Thursday to a series of accusatory posts on his X platform that attempted to link Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and claim credit for Trump's election win. 'President Trump empowered him more than anyone has ever been empowered in this government, had his back, promoted this guy, even when people like me said, 'You're making a mistake. This is a bad guy. He's going to turn on you. He's not with us. He's also totally incompetent,'' Bannon said on War Room. 'Then as soon as President Trump comes out today, and President Trump saying it in the nicest way possible about the bill … the guy gets up and starts tweeting the most vicious stuff you can tweet.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Bannon: Musk should be ‘deported from the country immediately'
MAGA insider and former White House adviser Steve Bannon called on President Trump to investigate Elon Musk's immigration status and deport the South African tech billionaire after the bitter implosion of the president's relationship with Musk on Thursday. 'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,' Bannon, a frequent critic of Musk, told The New York Times Thursday. Musk and Trump spent much of Thursday afternoon trading barbs after their dispute over Trump's agenda-setting 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' erupted into a blistering public feud. During an appearance on his 'Bannon's War Room' live webcast, Bannon continued to lob attacks at the former head of the White House's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'Elon Musk is illegal, and he's gotta go,' Bannon said. 'He's illegal? Deport immediately.' 'You're going to ship these other people home. Let's start with the South Africans, okay?' he added, alluding to the Trump administration's sweeping immigration crackdown. Musk, one of the largest donors to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign at roughly $250 million, was born and grew up in South Africa before he emigrated to Canada and later moved to the U.S., and became a citizen while growing his tech empire, which includes SpaceX, the social platform X, Tesla and other endeavors. The Washington Post reported last year that Musk worked in the country illegally before gaining citizenship, prompting questions from Bannon and others about whether Musk's citizenship is legal. Bannon also noted Musk's reported drug usage as potential ammo for prompting his deportation. The New York Times reported last week that Musk's alleged use of Ketamine and other substances on the campaign trail sparked concerns in Trump circles, but Musk denied the claims. 'The drug thing is going to be investigated,' Bannon said. Trump and Musk's relationship began to sour in recent days as Musk lashed out over the Trump-backed megabill currently under review in Congress. Musk called it a 'disgusting abomination,' while Trump pressed back and defended the bill. Bannon said he supports Trump's latest suggestion that Musk's massive government contracts should be pulled. 'It needs dramatic action. I would pull all the contracts immediately,' Bannon said. He also blasted Musk's abrupt and abrasive attacks against Trump, which escalated Thursday to a series of accusatory posts on his X platform that attempted to link Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and claim credit for Trump's election win. 'President Trump empowered him more than anyone has ever been empowered in this government, had his back, promoted this guy, even when people like me said, 'You're making a mistake. This is a bad guy. He's going to turn on you. He's not with us. He's also totally incompetent,'' Bannon said on War Room. 'Then as soon as President Trump comes out today, and President Trump saying it in the nicest way possible about the bill … the guy gets up and starts tweeting the most vicious stuff you can tweet.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Steve Bannon Says 'President Trump Is A Very Sophisticated Businessman,' Calls Scott Bessent 'Safe Pair Of Hands'
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon had high praise for both President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his appearance at the Semafor World Economy Summit in April, calling Trump a "very sophisticated businessman" and describing Bessent as a "safe pair of hands." The comments come amid growing scrutiny over Elon Musk's attempts to overhaul the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency. "Scott is a safe pair of hands that understands capital markets deeply," Bannon said. "He's done this for 30 years. He has a very strong sense of what markets need to hear. I may not like it, but he's telling me the truth—that's Scott Bessent." Don't Miss:Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Bannon, who hosts 'Bannon's War Room' podcast and remains a MAGA movement influencer, backed Bessent during a high-profile clash with Musk over control of the Internal Revenue Service commissioner appointment. The power struggle ended with Bessent's preferred candidate replacing Musk's pick after only three days. "If [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick had been, it'd have been an unmitigated disaster," Bannon said. As for Trump, Bannon reiterated his confidence in the president's strategic instincts. "President Trump is a very sophisticated businessman," he said, countering critics who questioned Trump's embrace of economic populism and new tariff strategies. Musk's time in government seems to be over now, but it started with ambitious promises—cutting $2 trillion in spending and slashing bureaucracy—but ended in chaos and backlash. His attempts to move fast and break things clashed with Washington's entrenched norms and legal limits. Trending: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . Bannon believes Musk failed to grasp the scale and complexity of the federal government. "You have to go to the Pentagon," Bannon said at the summit, arguing that real waste and abuse can't be tackled without understanding defense spending. He questioned Musk's failure to produce transparent accounting for DOGE's claimed budget cuts. "None of this makes sense," he added. "We need to know exactly what he found as far as fraud goes." Bannon's criticism of Musk didn't stop at budget cuts or federal dysfunction. In an interview with Business Insider in April, Bannon took aim at Musk's Neuralink project, calling it "satanism with a brain chip." "Elon was always evil. He's a techno-feudalist. We are on the side of the human being,' Bannon told Business Insider, accusing Musk of pushing a "techno-feudalist" agenda designed to hijack the future of humankind. Bannon's remarks reflect a deeper ideological and personal feud between the two men, both vying for influence in Trump's orbit. While Musk has tried to reshape government with disruptive tech-centric policies, Bannon has positioned himself as a defender of traditional, human-centered governance. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Steve Bannon Says 'President Trump Is A Very Sophisticated Businessman,' Calls Scott Bessent 'Safe Pair Of Hands' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Post
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Steve Bannon back on Spotify after 5 years — but pledges to fight big tech to the end: ‘Most dangerous thing in the country'
Nearly five years after Steven Bannon's suspension from Spotify, his podcast 'WarRoom' has returned — a move which may cement his role as the most influential MAGA voice for a global audience, given the platform's massive reach of 268 million subscribers. Bannon, like now-president Donald Trump, managed to grow his audience during the years Joe Biden was in office despite his removal from YouTube, Facebook, and X. His team says his following is well into the millions and was fortified by his unwavering support of Trump through his mass media shadowbanning and even being sent to jail, which helped solidy his MAGA bona fides. Advertisement 4 Bannon said War Room, which churns out four hours of programming six days a week from a basement studio in Washington, D.C Bannonâs War Room While he has been welcomed back to Spotify, Bannon said 'WarRoom' — which produces four hours of programming six days a week from a studio in Washington, D.C. — hasn't changed its tone or style at all since it was banned in 2020. 'I think our content's the same, probably more hard hitting than ever,' Bannon, 71, told The Post. Advertisement 'WarRoom' was removed from most platforms, but not Apple Podcasts, in November 2020 after Bannon said, 'I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I'd put the heads on pikes, right, I'd put them [then-NIAID chief Anthony Fauci and FBI director Christopher Wray] at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats. 'You either get with the program or you're gone – time to stop playing games.' In a statement, a Spotify spokeswoman said, 'Following its temporary suspension and a constructive dialogue with the show's team, new 'Bannon's WarRoom' episodes are available on Spotify.' 4 Spotify has a global presence — the company is in more than 180 countries. Emmy Park for NY Post Advertisement Bannon told The Post his comments were metaphorical rather than literal, 'I made a comment two days before about Thomas More in 'A Man for All Seasons', where they put his head on a pike, and we said it metaphorically about Christopher Wray and Dr. Fauci.' As well as making a comeback on streaming, Bannon is also making a resurcence in mainstream media, with appearances on the Democrat California Governor's 'This is Gavin Newsom' podcast and Bill Maher's 'Real Time'. 'I can give a punch and I can take a punch — the MAGA movement prides itself in being resilient,' Bannon said of how he has adapted from being ban to now being welcomed on even left-wing programs. Advertisement He's glad for the opportunity to reach Americans on the left who have never heard him. He's also focused on content that has a global reach (Although MGGA — Make the Globe Great Again doesn't have the same ring to it). Spotify's presence in more than 180 countries can help that. 'At least an hour we try to give over to just the international populist nationalist sovereignty movement,' Bannon said. 'We have a lot of coverage of Hungary, Poland, Romania…' 4 Bannon is 'adamant' about breaking up tech companies and believes free speech is not safe until companies like Amazon and Facebook are broken up. Getty Images During his career, Bannon has worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, a Hollywood producer on nearly two dozen films, co-founder of Breitbart News, CEO of Trump's 2016 campaign, and a chief strategist at the White House until 2018, when a report broke that he had made damaging comments about Trump's children. But Bannon has moved away from jockeying for power in the White House and is now wholly focused on learning his audience and building War Room. Part of 'War Room's' appeal, Bannon says, is that the show respects its listeners, 'Our audience is into the receipts [the evidence and data], it's a working class and middle class audience.' He says media snobs are clueless about his audience, citing a recent example of a reporter who dscribed his show as him discussing a lot of 'boring stuff' before going on a 'rant.' 4 Steve Bannon is very critical of Elon Musk, who he calls an 'apostate of the left.' Getty Images for Semafor Advertisement 'Well, in that show, what he would call the boring stuff is what the audience wanted most,' Bannon explains. 'We do a lot capital markets, detailed politics, the precinct strategy, geopolitics, a lot of economy, a lot of the bond market, you know, things like the [Trump's] Big, Beautiful Bill, we will drill down on the math.' While Bannon is admittedly glad to be reinstated, he isn't taking it for granted. He is also aware of how any company with the power to ban and then reinstate someone can change its policies on a whim, which is part of the reason he tells me he is 'adamant' about breaking up giant tech companies. 'The oligarchs go beyond big tech, but I think Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google all need to be broken up,' he said. Advertisement 'Big tech, I think, is the most dangerous thing in the country. It has potential great upside, but right now it's oligarchy power and we have to go after them.' 'And I remember at the inauguration [this January], they were all sitting there thinking they own President Trump… It turned out President Trump started crushing them, whether in federal court or with other anti-trust efforts. They can't be trusted as far as you can throw them… that's why I think they have got to be broken up.' But Bannon is also very critical of Elon Musk, who he tells me is an 'apostate of the left' but who he has also slammed as a 'parasitic illegal immigrant.' Advertisement Bannon and Musk are pitted against each other in an idealogical war over MAGA. When asked whether X offers a sufficient antidote to other tech behemoths, Bannon replied, 'If you mention getting rid of H-1B work visas, you'll see how suppressed you become.' 'Although Twitter's been a sea change with the political right… Elon Musk could flip in a second… that's where the danger [is].'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kennedy Center says J6 Prison Choir is not a 'confirmed event,' despite what Steve Bannon says
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon told a cheering CPAC crowd in Washington, D.C., this week that the J6 Prison Choir — composed of men jailed after the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — would perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "I talked to Ambassador Ric Grenell last night," Bannon said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, referring to the former ambassador to Germany whom President Trump appointed as the center's interim executive director. "And I think the J6 choir is gonna play the Kennedy Center for a night and honor their families." A representative for the Kennedy Center, however, told The Times on Friday: "We do not have any information on this as a Kennedy Center confirmed event." Speculation has swirled about the future of Kennedy Center programming now that Trump has wrested control of the national arts institution and dismissed board members appointed under former President Biden, as well as longtime board Chair David M. Rubenstein and longtime President Deborah F. Rutter. High-profile artists associated with the center or scheduled to perform there have stepped down or canceled appearances, including TV producer Shonda Rhimes, musician Ben Folds, opera singer Renée Fleming and actor Issa Rae. Online chatter about a J6 Prison Choir appearance at the center picked up steam after early media reports took Bannon's remarks seriously. The choir is best known for a recording that features the men singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" interspersed with clips of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The song briefly took the No. 1 spot on Billboard's digital song sales chart after it was released in March 2023. A music video for the song — featuring clips of the Capitol riot as well as images of Trump hugging the American flag, pledging allegiance to the flag and holding rallies — premiered on the "Bannon's War Room" podcast. At CPAC, Bannon said the J6 choir should open the new incarnation of the Kennedy Center under Grenell and Trump. "And we invite all the families they tried to destroy, the J6ers, and they get to sit in boxes where the elites sit," Bannon said. "And we take the elites — for just one night — and we take them down to the D.C. gulag." Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
