Steve Bannon has launched a blistering attack on Elon Musk over his plans to create a new U.S. political party.
Speaking on his War Room podcast, Bannon, who served as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, mocked the South African-born billionaire—who is now a U.S. citizen—and declared that Musk was “not American.”
On Saturday, Musk announced he was forming a political movement called the “America Party,” citing a poll he had posted on July 4 in which 65.4% of respondents supported the idea.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Musk wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Although Musk, as a naturalized citizen, is constitutionally barred from running for president, he can back third-party candidates and help get them on ballots in all 50 states if enough signatures are collected. However, history shows that third parties in the U.S. rarely achieve major electoral success.
On Friday, Bannon unleashed a tirade:
“The foul, the buffoon. Elmo the Mook, formerly known as Elon Musk, Elmo the Mook. Today, in another smear—only a foreigner could do this—think about it, he’s got up on Twitter right now, a poll about starting an America Party, a non-American starting an America Party.”
Bannon went further, accusing Musk of criminal conduct:
“No, brother, you’re not an American. You’re a South African. We take enough time and prove the facts of that, you should be deported because it’s a crime of what you did—among many.”
Musk quickly responded to a clip of Bannon’s comments on X:
“The fat, drunken slob called Bannon will go back to prison and this time for a long time. He has a lifetime of crime to pay for.”
Dafydd Townley, an American politics expert at the University of Portsmouth, told Newsweek that historically, third parties struggle to sustain momentum:
“Third parties do not tend to have a long lifetime in American politics.”
Townley added that Musk’s new effort could fracture the Republican base:
“It would likely split the Republican vote, potentially resulting in a Democrat-dominated House of Representatives, at least in the short term, due to the winner-takes-all electoral system.”
It remains unclear how the America Party will be organized or who else might be involved. Whether it can break through the entrenched two-party system is still an open question.
