Former Trump adviser and right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon said this week that tech billionaire Elon Musk’s “shock troops” in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are making headways in reshaping the government after months of publicly lambasting Musk and his motives.
“It’s a trauma-inducing effort into the administrative state,” Bannon said in an interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo. “And all of it not pretty, but I think it’s been pretty effective to date.”
“It’s never terribly pleasant,” he added.
Bannon said he doubts DOGE will get to Musks $1 trillion target in spending cuts, but the effort is “making some progress,” he said.
“I think it’s headed in the right direction, although folks got to understand you’re going to have some speed bumps,” Bannon said, referencing a court order Tuesday that said Musk and DOGE overstepped their authority in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), one of several legal setbacks the Trump administration has faced in its sweeping efforts to reduce the size of the government.
Previously, Bannon has blisteringly attacked Musk, calling him “a parasitic illegal immigrant” who doesn’t respect “the country’s history, tradition or values,” and a “truly evil guy, a very bad guy.”
He also vowed to “take this guy down” and said Musk should “go back to South Africa,” his native country.
“Bannon is a great talker, but not a great doer,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns, on Feb. 6. “What did he get done this week? Nothing.”
Bannon, who was CEO of Trump’s 2016 campaign, was fired from his White House role in 2017 amid tension with Trump’s team early in his first term.
He told Cuomo that he and Musk still have major philosophical differences, but he recognizes the Tesla CEO’s efforts in the Trump administration.
“Look, Elon and he and I have huge, almost unbridgeable differences on so many things like transhumanism and technology and visas and immigration all that,” said Bannon, who has maintained close ties with the president. “He’s making an effort, and I think he’s having getting some real traction.”
The New York Times reported that Trump stepped in and urged Bannon to temper his public attacks against Musk and meet with him privately to quash their feud.
Bannon has since turned to praising DOGE’s work, while keeping Musk at arm’s length.
“DOGE is on fire, and as you know, I fully support Elon on DOGE and cutting the government,” he said on the “Welcome to MAGAland” podcast in late February, noting that he still opposes Musk “being an oligarch and a trans-humanist.”
During a recent appearance on Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s podcast, Bannon didn’t bite as Newsom attempted to engage in a discussion of mutual concerns about Musk.
