Steve Bannon Hurls More Bombs at MAGA as He Re-Ups Civil War

Josh Fiallo
·4-min read
Mike Johnson, Steve Bannon, Elon Musk illustration
Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Steve Bannon isn’t letting the MAGA civil war fade away in 2025.

The bombastic conservative podcaster took personal shots at the newly re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson on his show Monday and asserted he now views “scam” H1-B visas as another form of illegal immigration.

Those topics dominated right-wing circles early last week, but Bannon made clear he’s not ready for the so-called MAGA civil war to subside just yet.

Bannon referred to Elon Musk as “the South African” on his show as he dissed H1-B visas, which allow foreign workers to be employed in specialty occupations stateside.

Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been hired to lead Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency program, have fiercely defended H1-B visas. Musk has gone as far as suggesting that those who disagree are “retarded,” while Ramaswamy infamously bashed U.S. culture in a bizarre post about the visas that admonished jocks, prom queens, U.S. sitcoms, and even Saturday morning cartoons.

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MAGA critics of the visa program, like Bannon and the far-right influencer Laura Loomer, have countered that they take away job opportunities from Americans and are abused by employers looking to pay less for skilled labor.

“As our coalition expands, particularly when the American people and African Americans and Hispanics and others understand that we’re going to tear down this phony ‘legal immigration’ where the oligarchs—the sociopathic overlords in Silicon Valley now led by the South Africans,” Bannon said, referring to H1-Bs.

Bannon then got sidetracked, remarking about Musk and other foreign-born leaders in the tech industry: “That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? They’ve done such a great job in their country, they’ve come over here to tell us what to do in our country.”

Steve Bannon says he no longer views H1-B visas as a form of legal immigration. / Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Steve Bannon says he no longer views H1-B visas as a form of legal immigration. / Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Bannon gave a similar rant to his Friday show listeners. He said then that he would like to see Trump put a moratorium on all immigration and work visas.

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“Over at Twitter, the South African has got to understand, the South Africans have to understand... suppression didn’t work in your own country, right?” Bannon said. “It’s not going to work here in the United States of America, OK. We’re free men and free women, and we’re winning right now and we’re going to continue to win and change these absurd and obscene, quite frankly, obscene policies. H1-B visa is obscene. We are calling for 100 percent moratorium on any immigration, any, for right now, full stop.”

Bannon blamed H1-B visas as the reason there are so few Black and Hispanic men in tech. He even went as far as suggesting during Friday’s show that the competition brought in by visas may have led to the radicalization of the New Orleans terror suspect—a veteran with a tech background—who killed 14 early Wednesday morning.

“What would happen if he had gotten an IT job and was able to perform in the IT job and got training in the IT job?” Bannon said Friday. “Would he have been radicalized? I don’t know.”

Bannon also made clear again on Monday that he’s no fan of Johnson, despite the House Speaker being Trump’s pick for the position he was re-elected to on Friday.

Some in the MAGA world have complained that Johnson was not effective enough during his first leadership stint. Bannon said he fears Johnson will cause unnecessary delays for Trump as he tries to push through his policy priorities.

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Bannon referred to the House Speaker as “Polly Pockets Johnson” and said that he is “sleazy.” He suggested the Louisiana lawmaker’s greatest skill is diverting blame for GOP failures to Trump—a realization he said he reached this weekend.

While some in the MAGA world have criticized Mike Johnson, the president-elect pushed for him to be re-elected as House speaker. / Brian Snyder / REUTERS
While some in the MAGA world have criticized Mike Johnson, the president-elect pushed for him to be re-elected as House speaker. / Brian Snyder / REUTERS

“He’s great at sloughing off responsibility and blame to President Trump,” Bannon said. “He has an innate ability to actually shift blame of his failures to President Trump.”

Bannon said he fears Republicans—under the leadership of Johnson—will try to pass an “omnibus” bill to usher in Trump’s policy goals like mass deportations, tax reform, and tariffs on foreign goods.

A single bill can be picked apart by Democrats and will be subject to delays, Bannon argued. He said he has heard that such a bill, which originally was slated to be proposed as early as April, may not reach a House vote until Memorial Day. With that coming shortly before a summer recess, Bannon said that Trump’s most-pressing policy matters are at risk of being put on a side-burner until after Labor Day if they run into any sort of additional delays.

“It’s too big,” Bannon said of the bill. “It’s too complicated. You, Johnson, have failed. Failed already.”

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