Bannon says Trump should deport Musk 'immediately' and 'seize' SpaceX

Right-wing commentator Steve Bannon says President Trump should deport Elon Musk "immediately" and "seize" SpaceX.

Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist during his first term, said Thursday amid Musk's feud with Trump that the president should invoke the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, which allows the president to require private companies to accept and prioritize government contracts for the manufacture of goods needed for national defense.

“The action that President Trump should be taking immediately, I think, when [Musk] threatens to take one of the big programs out of SpaceX, President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act to be called in SpaceX and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast.

The law, which Trump used to compel businesses to make ventilators and test swabs early in the COVID-19 pandemic, does not explicitly give the president the power to seize private companies.

Musk responded to a video clip of Bannon's comments on X, saying, "Bannon is peak retard."

Bannon's statement followed Musk saying that SpaceX would start "decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," following Trump's statement about canceling Musk's government subsidies and contracts to save money. The Dragon spacecraft is used to shuttle astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station.

Bannon also said that there should be an investigation into Musk's immigration status, as he is a native of South Africa. However, Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002.

“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Bannon told The New York Times on Thursday.

Bannon also said that the Trump administration should investigate Musk's alleged drug use and that his security clearance should be suspended during the probe. He added that Musk's government contracts with his companies should be canceled.

Musk recently started a public row over Trump's "big, beautiful bill's" spending provisions. The spat escalated with Trump suggesting the government balance its budget by canceling subsidies to Musk's companies, after which Musk stated that the government had failed to release the Epstein files due to Trump's place in them.

Musk and Trump appeared to de-escalate the feud late Thursday and early Friday.