[By Guancha Observer, Shao Yun]
The "verbal spat" between U.S. President Trump and his former ally Musk is escalating. On the local time of the 5th, Steve Bannon, the ex-White House Chief Strategist of Trump and a long-time critic of Musk, called on Trump to investigate Musk's immigration status and "immediately" expel this South African-born billionaire from the country and take over SpaceX. Musk retaliated by calling Bannon "the peak of retardation".
"They should launch an official investigation into his immigration status because I firmly believe he is an illegal immigrant and should be immediately deported," Bannon said in a phone interview with The New York Times. According to reports, Bannon argued that the Trump administration should also investigate Musk's alleged drug use and his invitation to attend Pentagon briefings, and suspend his security clearance during the investigation.
In his updated podcast "Bannon's War Room" on the 5th, Bannon further urged Trump to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act to confiscate Musk's control over SpaceX as a response to Musk. Previously, Trump threatened to cancel billions of dollars in federal contracts signed with Musk, and Musk quickly retorted, saying he would start "retiring" the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft used by NASA.
"I think what President Trump should do immediately is, when (Musk) threatens to cancel a major SpaceX project, the president should sign an executive order tonight to invoke the Defense Production Act against SpaceX and forcibly take over SpaceX before midnight tonight," Bannon said.
Bannon calls for "immediate deportation" of Musk in the podcast. Screenshot from the program
As reported, the Defense Production Act is a law passed during the Cold War period in the United States, granting the president the power to require private enterprises to accept and prioritize federal government contracts related to national security. During his previous term, Trump invoked this act to force companies to produce ventilators and testing swabs at the beginning of the pandemic. However, the New York Post pointed out that the Defense Production Act does not explicitly grant the president the authority to directly take over private enterprises.
Bannon also criticized that for Musk, the former head of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), Trump has disregarded surrounding objections and given him "more power than anyone else in this administration", but Musk has only been thinking about "benefiting himself" and speaking ill of Trump.
"Once (Musk) believes he hasn't received a contract or the admiration he deserves... he will betray President Trump and the 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) movement. But most importantly, he betrays this country and the American people," Bannon said.
Bannon added: "If progressive people tell him, 'Hey, they (conservatives) will never buy Teslas, we are the ones who will buy them,'... he would issue a $500 million check to Hakeem Jeffries (House Democratic leader). He will try to impeach President Trump, help steal the 2028 election, and try to imprison President Trump. So my point is - we need to strike first."
In response, Musk was not to be outdone and quickly retaliated. From late evening on the 5th to early morning on the 6th local time, he posted similar comments under at least four clips of Bannon's podcast on social platform X (formerly Twitter), calling Bannon "the peak of retardation" and @ing the X account "Public Execution" which records "stupid things done by fools".
Musk's comments. Screenshot from X
Media outlets noted that Bannon has always had strong criticism of Musk personally and his involvement in Trump's campaign and administration. Earlier this year, when interviewed by British media UnHerd, Bannon described Musk as a "parasitic illegal immigrant", saying "he wants to impose his bizarre experiments on others, pretending to be God, yet showing no respect for the history, values, and traditions of this country."
Musk was born in South Africa in 1971 and moved to North America for study during his youth. He has been a U.S. citizen for more than 20 years. He co-founded, invested in, or managed multiple companies in fields such as electric vehicles, satellites, and aerospace manufacturing, amassing immense wealth and gaining entry into Trump's inner circle. During last year's presidential election cycle, he contributed over $290 million to Republican campaigns, playing a significant role in Trump's re-election, and was once considered a close ally of Trump.
After Trump took office, Musk served as a "special government employee" leading DOGE, intending to help Trump significantly reduce federal spending and cut a large number of federal employees. However, over the past few months, Musk has had disputes with several cabinet members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Rubio and Treasury Secretary Beasant.
Musk is known for his exaggerated rhetoric and unpredictable personality, leading to mixed evaluations from outsiders. However, according to reports from The New York Times in May citing sources close to Musk, the world's richest man has been in a worse state since entering politics. His dependence on hallucinogenic drugs like ketamine (commonly known as "K powder") has become increasingly severe, and his behavior has become even more eccentric, causing some friends to publicly distance themselves from him.
Musk has repeatedly denied rumors of drug addiction, but admitted to using prescription ketamine to treat depression, stating that occasionally taking ketamine is a better choice compared to SSRI drugs which make people feel like "zombies". In response to related reports from The New York Times, Musk called them "fabrications".
"A few years ago, I tried prescription ketamine and mentioned it on X, so this isn't even news. It helps get out of the abyss of negative emotions, but I haven't used it since then," Musk posted on X on May 31st.
This verbal battle between Musk and Trump began last month after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the tax reform bill. The overall content of the bill, which Trump described as "big and beautiful", can be summarized into two aspects: cutting taxes, Medicaid, food assistance, education, and clean energy expenditures, and using the funds saved through these measures to boost military and border security; increasing the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
Relevant institutions estimate that raising the debt ceiling will increase U.S. public debt by more than $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years, with the federal government's debt-to-GDP ratio expected to rise from the current 98% to a record 125%. On June 3rd, Musk, who had long been dissatisfied with the bill, sharply increased his volume after leaving DOGE, condemning the bill as "unbearable". On the 4th, Musk began rallying his over 200 million followers to pressure local lawmakers to stop the bill from passing.
Opinion analysis suggests that the increasingly strained relationship between Musk and the White House, as well as Musk's departure from DOGE, is partly due to his dissatisfaction with the "achievements" of DOGE, and partly because his political actions have backfired on his commercial empire. After Trump's victory, Tesla's market value once reached $1.5 trillion. However, as Musk became more involved in government affairs, its market value once halved.
According to Reuters statistics, in the past three months, DOGE reduced less than $200 billion in U.S. government fiscal expenditure, far short of the initial goal of reducing $1 trillion in federal spending. Musk recently admitted that he did not fully achieve his specific goals for cutting federal spending, and stated that "the bureaucratic nature of U.S. federal agencies is much worse than I realized."
Musk's fierce criticism of the "big and beautiful" bill is believed to potentially affect Tesla's government subsidies, as the bill plans to cut federal spending by canceling green energy incentive policies promoted by the previous Democratic government. Additionally, according to reports from Axios News Network, one of the issues that upset Musk involved the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control system. Musk originally hoped this system would be run by his "Starlink" satellite network, but due to technical issues and concerns about potential conflicts of interest, the proposal was rejected.
This article is an exclusive contribution by the Guancha Observer and cannot be reprinted without permission.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7512807146092347939/
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