Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be so enthusiastic about going to war with President-elect Donald Trump's base on high-skilled immigration because he fears he technically could be stripped of his citizenship under a strict interpretation of Trump's plans for mass deportation, veteran GOP strategist Stuart Stevens told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace this week.
This comes as Musk and his fellow Silicon Valley MAGA supporters pick a fight with Trump's longer-time populist base over the immigration issue, with longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon in particular stirring up anger at Musk. Trump, for his part, has sided with Musk publicly in favor of H1-B visas, but not without some backlash from his base.
"Let us start with the personalities," said Wallace. "Love him or loathe him, Steve Bannon went to jail for Donald Trump. I would not go against him. Can you weigh in on the brutality and the public nature of this very early and vicious fight between Steve Bannon and Elon Musk?"
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"Yes, it is absolutely difficult to watch," said Stevens. "If it was not impactful for the future of the country, you can laugh at it. Steve Bannon has defined himself as a dog. And he must do difficult things. [Musk] has no idea what he is getting into when he gets into a fight with Steve Bannon under this."
However, he continued, "I suspect Steve Bannon thinks about this. There is a good chance, and a lot of reporting, that Elon Musk was not a student when he got a visa. And when he went through the process of becoming a naturalized citizen, that he put on false information. If that's true, that is grounds for revoking his citizenship. It happens all the time. And under Trump, that would mean deporting Musk and his children. You know, you could make a case that one of the reasons Musk is so obsessed with immigration is that he knows this."
"And so, I think that in the heart and soul of MAGA, I would not bet against Steve Bannon."
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