Steve Bannon accused Elon Musk of trying to secure government guarantees for his businesses like Tesla at the expense of American taxpayers, describing tense exchanges between the pair inside the Trump White House and railing against corporatism.
Speaking on his Real America’s Voice show War Room, Bannon revealed he personally clashed with Musk on the issue “all the time”:
This is the discussion I used to have with Elon all the time. He’d come in the West Wing. He’d want all these guarantees on the button.
I said: ‘Dude, you don’t understand. You’re asking people that make 42,000 bucks a year to essentially get all these tax breaks.’ They’re financing what the venture capitalist should finance, so therefore, you’re gonna own less of Tesla, right? Their returns are gonna take longer and maybe be lower, so they’re gonna want even more.
Bannon claimed Musk’s push for government-backed incentives amounted to “socializing the risk” while letting corporate elites “keep all the upside”:
But every venture capitalist, every private equity, every management team, of course you want the suckers to come in, the people don’t know anything. Right? To socialize the risk, because remember I said all of this is about risk mitigation, to socialize the risk, and you guys keep all the upside, that has to stop.
In the week after New Yorkers voted in mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist, Bannon reflected that the dynamic inside the White House had eroded faith in capitalism among younger Americans.
“What young people in this country – being logical – have looked around [and] they haven’t actually seen capitalism at work, they’ve seen crony capitalism or corporatism with the devil take the hindmost approach. It has to stop,” Bannon said.
He continued: “This is why young people don’t believe in capitalism, because you know what that is not capitalism, that’s corporatism.”
He added: “So what young people in this country, being logical, have looked around, they haven’t actually seen capitalism at work, they’ve seen crony capitalism or they’re seeing corporatism with the devil take the hindmost approach – it has to stop and it has stop about artificial intelligence!”
Continuing, the former Trump White House strategist linked Silicon Valley ventures in artificial intelligence and data infrastructure to what he called a reckless, elite-driven race for profit and a push for “hundreds of billions of dollars” in guarantees.
“Who’s supposed to finance that? You!” he said. “Do you own a warrant package? Do you have an equity package? You have a package of options? Do have anything? No. You know what you got? You got the sweat on your freaking brow, and you’re the full faith and credit.”
He added: “Always remember that, you, this audience, these great patriots, they have delivered victory after victory against all odds. You got to sweat on your brow, and the tax man all over you to pay your taxes. And those taxes now to go to either government guarantees or outright loans to these guys, hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Watch above via Real America’s Voice.
The post Steve Bannon Accuses Elon Musk of Demanding Tesla Tax Breaks in West Wing Clashes: Treating Working Americans Like ‘Suckers!’ first appeared on Mediaite.
