Steve Bannon and the redneck resistance by Robert Perez

The irony in American politics never ceases to amaze me and as we brace for the new Donald Trump era, an unexpected figure emerges as the so-called resistance. No, it’s not the liberals, the progressives, or the Never-Trump Republicans. It’s none other than Steve Bannon, the grizzled architect of Trump’s first presidency and the original prophet of MAGA populism. But Bannon’s fight isn’t about democracy or morality, it’s about redneck resentment, the eternal war against the coastal elite, and, most importantly, the opportunistic oligarchs who now circle Trump like vultures over a fresh corpse.

At the center of Bannon’s fury stands Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul who, despite his libertarian cosplay and Twitter tantrums, has become the exact embodiment of everything that Bannon’s redneck base despises: a globalist profiteer who speaks of ‘freedom’ while cozying up to China, a corporate overlord who poses as a folk hero, and the ultimate symbol of the elite hypocrisy that the MAGA faithful claim to loathe. Musk, after all, isn’t just a billionaire, he’s a billionaire with aspirations of control, influence, and, in some twisted sense, deification. He’s not content with running Tesla, SpaceX, and X; he wants to be the new kingmaker, the man behind the throne, the oligarch who whispers into Trump’s ear. And for Bannon, that’s a betrayal of the MAGA cause that he himself helped create.

Bannon’s war against Musk isn’t born from any moral stance but from his fundamental understanding of the Trumpist base. The working-class nationalists that propelled Trump into power in 2016 didn’t do so because they loved capitalism, they did it because they saw a chance to burn the system down. Their hatred was never against immigrants or liberals alone; it was against the entire globalist machine, against the Silicon Valley tycoons, the Wall Street gamblers, and the tech billionaires who profit while America’s rust belt rots. And now, with Trump fully in bed with Musk, Peter Thiel, and the rest of the billionaire puppet-masters, Bannon has found himself in the unenviable position of playing the anti-establishment crusader against his own movement’s Frankenstein monster.

What makes this schism particularly fascinating is that, at its core, it isn’t even ideological, it’s purely about power. Bannon, who once thought himself the Rasputin of Trump’s White House, has been replaced. He’s been sidelined, discarded, and replaced by newer, shinier billionaires who don’t need his brand of nationalist rhetoric to push their agendas. And if there’s one thing Bannon cannot tolerate, it’s irrelevance.

His rhetoric is shifting. Instead of merely pushing nationalist economic policies and anti-immigrant fear-mongering, he’s begun railing against the billionaire class with a vengeance that would make even some socialists nod in agreement. Musk, in particular, has become a favorite target, with Bannon painting him as the ultimate symbol of corporate greed, foreign entanglements, and technocratic overlordship. Bannon’s base, the very people who once saw Trump as their savior, are being nudged toward the idea that their true enemy isn’t the Democrats—it’s the globalist billionaire class that includes Musk and his allies.

The question now is: does this schism matter? Does Bannon have enough influence left to turn Trump’s base against its own billionaire backers? The answer, as always in American politics, depends on how well he can weaponize anger. The redneck rage that fueled Trump’s ascent was always about betrayal the sense that America had been sold out, that the working class had been discarded while the elite hoarded power. If Bannon can successfully redirect that anger toward Musk and his ilk, we may see a strange new political battlefield emerge in the coming years: one where Trumpists turn on the very oligarchs funding their movement, creating a civil war within the American right.

But make no mistake this is no noble crusade. Bannon isn’t a hero, and his cause isn’t righteous. This is about ego, revenge, and power. It’s about a man who helped build a monster and now finds himself trying to tame it before it swallows him whole. The irony is thick, the hypocrisy is endless, and the chaos is inevitable.

As Trump’s second presidency looms, one thing is certain: the war within MAGA is just beginning, and Steve Bannon, the original architect of the movement, may now be its loudest rebel. Whether he succeeds in his vendetta against Musk and the oligarchs remains to be seen, but one thing is undeniable there is no loyalty in the land of populist grifters, only the never-ending cycle of power, betrayal, and opportunism.