Steve Bannon’s war against Elon Musk proves Musk is Trump’s Rasputin

Will it end the same way for Musk?!

Many have compared Elon Musk to a James Bond villain or “Lex Luther” from Superman. But to me, the most accurate comparison is someone who actually existed and that was Grigori Rasputin, better known simply as Rasputin. And that comparison just became even more accurate with Steve Bannon’s vicious attacks on Musk over the weekend—with Bannon calling Musk “a truly evil guy” and vowing to “take him down.” (Be still my heart!)

Let’s start with a little primer on Rasputin, who was born in 1869 in the Siberia region of Russia. Known as the “Mad Monk,” he rose from being an obscure peasant to one of the most powerful and visible people in Russian Czar Nicholas’ inner circle.

What brought Rasputin to the attention of Czar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra was that their son, Alexei, suffered from hemophilia. Rasputin was known as a mystical figure who with a reputation for “healing powers.” That lead the Czar in 1906 to seek help from Rasputin. Whatever Rasputin did, it helped Alexei to the degree that the Czar and his wife kept him around to continue caring for their son.

Over the next eight years, Rasputin went from a person unknown to the Czar to one of his closest and most visible advisors. In fact, by 1914, Rasputin “was providing political advice and making recommendations for ministerial appointments.”

Rasputin’s power grew even stronger in 1915, when Czar Nicholas left the Capitol to lead the Russian Army in World War I. The Czar put his wife Alexandra in charge of the empire, but given how close Rasputin was to her, Rasputin now had “more power than ever and even appointed his own ministers and public officials.”

That is when the Steve Bannon’s of the time--who had been a part of Czar Nicholas’s inner circle for decades--plotted to end the influence of this interloper. Of course, they didn’t publicly post comments about Rasputin. Instead, this group of Russian nobles, including Prince Felix Youssupov (Czar Nicholas’ niece’s husband) and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (Nicholas’ cousin), plotted to kill Rasputin.

And they did just that in December 1916. The legend goes that these nobles lured Rasputin to a palace for dinner where they first fed him a platter of cakes and glasses of wine laced with cyanide. When that failed to have any impact, they shot the mystical monk at close range. Still, Rasputin refused to die. At that point the desperate nobles tied Rasputin up, beat him and then dumped his body into the Neva River--where he finally drowned. While the actual cause of death has been a matter of debate, one thing is clear and that was the jealous people who surrounded the Czar killed Rasputin to regain their influence.

That same human emotion of envy appears to be fueling the Musk/Bannon war more than 100 years later. (Reminder: “Envy” is one of the seven deadly sins so it’s been a powerful driver of bad things throughout human civilization.) Although with Bannon, there is a possibility that Trump is the one fueling the public brawl given Trump loves drama.

But this could be straight up jealously given Bannon has been with Trump since before he ran for president in 2106--and was instrumental in that win. Bannon even went to prison to protect Trump when he defied a congressional subpoena seeking info about the Jan 6 attack.

All of sudden here comes South Africa’s Elon Musk--who at one time supported Barack Obama and early in the 2024 race was supporting Trump’s GOP primary opponent, Ron DeSantis. Musk, who was raised in “elite, segregated white communities” in South Africa during apartheid-- did not endorse Trump until July 2024. But from there he pumped in $270 million to help Trump, has ingratiated himself to Trump and has literally been living at Mar-A-Lago since the election as the NY Times reported.

Before anyone dismisses this battle between Musk and Bannon as a contrived side show, I will note that Bannon’s attacks on Musk began long before today. For example, in early 2023 he called Musk a “traitor” to the United States who is “not even an American.” And in March 2023, Bannon publicly slammed Musk as a “total and complete phony” who is “owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Chinese Communist Party.” Bannon was referring to Musk’s large Tesla factory in China that produces nearly 50% of all Tesla vehicles. And while Musk has no qualms attacking American or European leaders, he has never publicly criticized China’s leaders—instead, he has “praised Chinese leaders and taken China’s side in geopolitical disputes.”

But it’s not just Bannon who has growing issues with how close Musk has become to Trump. In mid-November, there were media reports that Trump’s longtime operative Boris Epshteyn had a screaming match with Musk at Mar-A-Lago over who Trump should pick for top positions in the administration. In December, other MAGA influencers also began to publicly battle with Musk over immigration policy, with one reminding the MAGA faithful that Musk had said in past Trump was “too old” and that he had first supported DeSantis. In response, the wealthy and arrogant Musk vowed “war” over the issue.

However, Bannon’s comments Saturday have elevated this war to Defcon 1. Bannon told an Italian media outlet, “Musk is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down.” Bannon was just getting warmed up, stating that Musk “should go back to South Africa,” adding, “Why do we have the most racist people on earth, white South Africans…making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”

Bannon warned that Musk’s only priority is acquiring more “power” over all of us. Per Bannon, Musk wants to impose “techno-feudalism on a global scale.”

That last part can’t be denied. The billionaires like Musk do want to make us serfs.

We all know that a divided MAGA fighting amongst themselves is a good thing. And while Musk is insanely wealthy, it does not mean Bannon can’t exact some pain upon the thin-skinned Musk. All I can say is that I’m rooting for a long, painful and brutal war between Bannon and Musk—hopefully something akin to the Battle of Stalingrad.

---