- Steve Bannon accused Elon Musk of having “paymasters” in Beijing.
- This isn’t the first time Bannon has accused Musk of having links to the Chinese Communist Party.
- Bannon is an associate of Miles Guo, an indicted Chinese billionaire accused of fraud.
Far-right shock jock Steve Bannon, who has ties to an indicted Chinese billionaire, accused Elon Musk of being a toady to the Chinese government.
Bannon, who served as a strategist for then-President Donald Trump, on Saturday took to the right-wing social media platform Gettr to post about Musk.
“Musk Heads to Home Office to Kowtow to His Paymasters The CCP,” Bannon wrote on Gettr, referencing a Bloomberg article about Musk’s plans to visit China.
In another Gettr post three hours later, Bannon again slammed Musk, this time commenting on Musk’s role as the CEO of Twitter.
“Musk Lies Almost as Frequently as He Breathes….He Overpaid by 2x for The Crime Scene Known as Twitter …Now His Paymasters in Beijing Demand He Screws Everyone to Get Their Money Back….” Bannon wrote.
This isn’t the first time Bannon has — without substantiation or evidence — accused Musk of serving the Chinese government.
In March, Bannon claimed during an episode of the TimCast IRL podcast that Musk is “a total and complete phony” who is “owned – lock, stock, and barrel – by the Chinese Communist Party.” A clip from the podcast was posted to Twitter by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
“I used to think Bannon was smart & evil, but now I realize I was wrong about the first part,” Musk tweeted in response.
“@ElonMusk is a total and complete phony. He is owned – lock, stock, and barrel – by the Chinese Communist Party, and he acts like it.”
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 11, 2023
–Steve Bannon on @Timcast IRL
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/UhwKPvBUSu
Elon Musk’s ties with China
Musk has spared no effort to create business ties with China. On Sunday, he announced that he intends to build a new Tesla battery factory in Shanghai, near the company’s existing vehicle factory.
By Cheryl Teh
