Steve Bannon has referred to Elon Musk as a “toddler” after The tech billionaire told opponents of the H-1B visa for skilled workers to fuck themselves in the face.

Bannon, who was Donald Trump’s chief strategist in the White House for seven months in 2017, made the comments on the social media platform Gettr, which is primarily used by conservatives.

Newsweek emailed Elon Musk through the Tesla and SpaceX press offices and Steve Bannon through his War Room podcast seeking comment.

Why it matters

Bannon’s comments are just the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter dispute within Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition over H-1B visas and legal immigration in general, pitting some of his key supporters in big business and Silicon Valley against him others allow nativist elements to come into play.

Once Trump is in office, it could be difficult to appease both those in business who believe skilled legal migration boosts the U.S. economy and those of his supporters who believe it does so at the expense of American workers.

What you should know

In a post on his social media platform “What made America strong is because.” by H1B.

“Take a big step back and fuck yourself in the face. I will go to war over this matter that you absolutely cannot imagine.”

A screenshot of the post was shared by Bannon on Gettr, with Trump’s former strategist and 2016 campaign manager adding: “Please notify ‘Child Protective Services’ – I need to do a ‘health check’ on this toddler.”

The dispute over H-1B visas erupted after conservative activist Laura Loomer criticized Trump’s appointment of Indian-born entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as his senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. On

The H-1B visa allows American companies to employ foreign workers in specialized occupations. These typically require theoretical or technical expertise in areas such as information technology (IT), engineering, mathematics, finance, medicine, science or other professional disciplines.

The number is currently capped at 65,000 per year, but an additional 20,000 visas will be made available annually to foreigners pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees in the United States.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Trump-supporting businessman chosen by the president-elect to lead the newly created Ministry of Government Efficiency alongside Musk, defended legal migration in an X post that received over 63 million views, although critics argued he attack American workers.

He said: “Our American culture has worshiped mediocrity over excellence for far too long (at least since the 1990s and probably longer). It doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.”

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympian (sic) or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers.”

What people say

Mark Shanahan, who teaches American politics at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, recounted Newsweek: “The alliance with Trump provides access to power for many different opinions – most of which would never intersect outside the Beltway bubble. Musk and Co. are only motivated by the fact that they burnish their wealth while their opponents in the H1-B dispute gain power by constantly playing the immigration card.

“These factions will never reconcile, and this week’s social media storm is merely a harbinger of the chaos that could engulf the new presidency even before Trump sets foot under the Resolute desk.”

Laura Loomer commented on X: “Read the room!” @elonmusk. They bought into MAGA 5 minutes ago after Trump nearly blew his head off in “Butler.” Remember when you voted for Biden and supported @GovRonDeSantis and said Trump was too old?

“We all know that you only donated your money to influence immigration policy and protect your buddy Xi JinPing.”

The influential conservative X account “End Wokeness,” which has over 3.3 million followers, posted: “We can debate and have a dialogue, but it would be stupid to upset Elon in the process. Look how this has played out for the left.”

Political and economic commentator Joey Politano wrote: “People who clapped for the “Haitians eat your pets” routine are making shocked Pikachu faces that their coalition partners won’t abandon racism against immigrants with computer science degrees. Spare me the indignation and start with The Big Guy if you’re like I want to eradicate the hate.

What happens next

While his plans to crack down on illegal immigration have broad support on the right, Trump will have to walk a tightrope on legal immigration after his inauguration on January 20 if he wants to avoid alienating a powerful section of his supporters.

During an interview with tech entrepreneur David Sacks in June, Trump suggested that international graduates of American universities should receive green cards.

He said: “If you graduate or get a PhD from a university, you should be able to stay in this country.”