Steve Bannon Says Elon Musk Only Out For His ‘Own Interest’ | EUROtoday

Steve Bannon’s gained’t again down from his bitter feud with Elon Musk.

The former White House adviser and right-wing media persona argued that Musk solely has his “own interest” in thoughts throughout a dialog about West Wing infighting with Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith on the World Economy Summit on Wednesday.

According to Mediaite, Bannon alluded to rigidity between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when requested who was liable for placing President Donald Trump’s radical financial agenda into motion.

Calling Bessent a “safe pair of hands” and “very sophisticated businessman,” the “War Room” rabble-rouser shed some mild on the battle that ensued behind the scenes over Trump’s decide for Treasury Secretary.

“The first big fight we’ve had with Elon was over Elon pushed Howard Lutnick, and Bannon and ‘War Room’ pushed Scott Bessent,” Bannon mentioned of the conflict, which noticed one aspect pushing for the considerably measured pro-tariff financier, Bessent whereas Musk backed his extra bullish billionaire ally Lutnick.

“That got very nasty in Mar-a-Lago,” Bannon claimed. “They leaked all kind of stuff about Scott that was not true.”

But the longtime MAGA devotee instructed Smith that Bessent was at all times the most effective decide for “what President Trump’s trying to do on trade, on tariffs, on taxes, on national security.”

“You’re going to need a steady eddy, a rock, that the markets can sit there and go, ‘That guy’s telling me the truth,’” he reasoned.

Bannon maintained that Lutnick “would have been an unmitigated disaster” if tapped to steer the Department of Treasury. Lutnick would ultimately land a task because the much less influential Secretary of Commerce as a substitute.

Calling Musk out by title, Bannon mentioned that the Bessent-vs.-Lutnick schism was in the end “about people putting their own interest first” as a substitute of prioritizing “the nation’s interest.”

Bannon’s perception emerged across the similar time Axios reported {that a} energy wrestle between Musk and Bessent over who ought to lead the IRS had erupted right into a frenzied shouting match.

“It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing,” a witness to the April 17 verbal tussle instructed the information website.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would later name the argument a part of “a healthy debate process” between White House factions.