Old MAGA versus new MAGA: A cage battle looks set to start

US President Trump's base seems divided but it needn't worry him

- NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON

Steve Bannon, the rumpled bard of MAGA, made a characteristically combative promise when asked about the relationship between Donald Trump's base and Elon Musk—tech titan, world's richest man and Trump bestie. "I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day. He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person," he proclaimed in an interview with an Italian newspaper, where he also suggested that Musk had the maturity of a little boy. "I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I'm not prepared to..."

Well, the inauguration has happened. Musk got prime indoor seating. As the head of Trump's cost-cutting efforts, Musk is also slated to have office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), part of the White House office complex.

Bannon, who speaks and dresses like a man at war, lost this round. More recently, he has sounded less confrontational and a bit defeated, saying Musk, with his billions and his own social media platform, is here to stay. "As soon as I can turn Elon Musk from a techno-feudalist to a populist-nationalist we will start making progress," he said in a Politico interview.