Steve Bannon is milking the raging feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for all that it’s worth, warning the Tesla boss: “I will rip your f---ing face off.”
After positioning himself squarely on Team Trump and calling for investigations into Musk and his businesses, now the MAGA loyalist has turned to physical threats to demonstrate his loyalty to the president.
Musk began trying to tank Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill earlier this week, leading the two MAGA heavyweights to eventually exchange increasingly personal insults.
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On his show, War Room, on Thursday, Bannon called for Musk to be deported, demanded his alleged drug use and ties to China to be investigated, and said Musk’s company, SpaceX, should be “seized” by the government.
Musk responded by calling Bannon a “r----d.”
Now, Bannon has threatened to “rip his f---ing face off.”
“You’re going to tell me we should allow some f---ing punk to sit there and say he should be impeached, and [Vice President] JD [Vance] should step in?” Bannon told Politico’s Playbook.
The comment was in response to a post on X saying that Musk was likely to win his fight against Trump and that Vance should replace the president. Musk shared the post and wrote simply: “Yes.”
“F--- you, dude. We’re going to go to f---ing war, and I’m going to rip your f---ing face off,” Bannon told Politico.
Bannon was once a top strategist for Trump but has since been relegated to trying to influence the president through his punditry. Ever since Musk was brought in to lead the so-called “department” of government efficiency, Bannon has railed against him on War Room.
Now he seems keen to exploit the rift between Musk and Trump, who famously rewards loyalty—and venom. According to Trump biographer Michael Wolff, the president likes it when his aides make biting comments on his behalf.
He’s been known to say, “That’s a good one” after particularly scathing insults, according to Wolff.
Speaking to Playbook, Bannon said Trump had treated Musk “almost like a son,” only for the Tesla chief to then turn on him.
“He invited his family to Christmas dinner. He let him sleep over. He let him walk in and out of meetings. The president went to the max informality to welcome this guy,” Bannon said.
Playbook described his remarks as an “‘I told you so’ victory lap.”
