Elon Musk issued a vicious attack on Steve Bannon, a top ally of Donald Trump, on Friday, calling the conservative leader a ‘criminal.’

Musk relayed his fury at Bannon’s suggestion the president use the Defense Production Act to seize control of some of Musk’s companies.

‘Bannon advocates crime, because he is a criminal,’ Musk wrote on X. 

It’s the latest in a series of insults he’s thrown at Bannon, a former White House aide who remains an influential adviser to Trump. 

‘Bannon is peak retard,’ Musk wrote earlier on X under a post featuring some of Bannon’s comments.  And Musk commented similarly on another post: ‘Bannon is a communist r—-d.’ 

Bannon, a vocal opponent of the richest man in the world, has called for Musk to be deported and urged President Trump to use the Defense Production Act to seize Musk’s companies. 

The influential right-wing podcaster has long been suspicious of Musk, arguing the self-made tech billionaire was cozying up to the president for his own interests and not because he was a true believer.

Steve Bannon is a long time critic of Elon Musk and Musk has attacked back

Trump and Musk’s bromance came to a deadly end on Thursday, complete with insults and threats playing out live on social media. 

There are no signs of a cooling off period – in fact it seems to be spreading.

Musk is now aiming his fire at those close to Trump, using an insult the president himself has fired at opponents. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump described rival Kamala Harris as ‘retarded.’ 

For his part, Bannon hasn’t held back either. 

He’s called on Musk, who was born in South Africa and became a naturalized American citizen, to be deported.

‘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.

And, on his podcast, Bannon called on Trump to seize the billionaire’s companies. 

‘President Trump, tonight, should sign an executive order calling up the Defense Production Act, and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight,’ he said.

Bannon’s call to arms came after as Musk and Trump escalating their war of words on social media.

Trump threatened to cancel Musk’s billions in federal contracts. In response, Musk said that SpaceX would ‘begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.’

The American space program relies on outside shuttles to reach the International Space Station.

But it’s unclear Trump could actually seize control of Musk’s empire.

The Defense Product Act – passed during World War II – allows the president to control domestic industries during emergencies by ordering companies to prioritize orders from the federal government. 

President Joe Biden used the act during the COVID pandemic to prioritize vaccine production. 

Musk is estimated to have nearly $3 billion in federal contracts. His companies also have taken a hit amid is war with Trump. Tesla shares fell 14% Thursday, losing about $152.4 billion in market value.

Elon Musk is now targeting President Donald Trump’s MAGA allies

Bannon was also infuriated when Musk endorsed a tweet calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vice President JD Vance.

He complained Trump treated Musk like a ‘son’ and went nuclear on him.

‘The president treated him almost like a son,’ Bannon told Politico’s Playbook. ‘He invited his family to Christmas dinner. He let him sleep over. He let him walk in and out of meetings. The president went to the max informality to welcome this guy.’

He added: ‘You’re going to tell me we should allow some f***ing punk to sit there and say he should be impeached and JD should step in? F*** you, dude. We’re going to go to f***ing war, and I’m going to rip your f***ing face off.’