Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon says Elon Musk’s star will implode inside the Trump White House if he fails to deliver his commitment to finding at least $1 trillion in wasteful government spending as the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency.

According to Mr. Bannon, the clock is ticking on Mr. Musk to show he is focused on the massive task and will not be distracted, after he raised doubts this week about the finances behind President Trump’s Stargate AI venture.

“He will lose absolute, total credibility if he doesn’t come through with anything,” Mr. Bannon told The Washington Times Thursday. “That’s why people — even people who are not fans like myself — are rooting for him.” 

“This has to be done right for the good of the Trump movement, for the good of the Trump economic plan,” he said of the DOGE mission.

Mr. Musk has carved out a high-profile role in the Trump White House after putting $250 million behind the president’s winning campaign and assuming the role of loyal surrogate on the campaign trail.

Mr. Musk was rewarded with the opportunity to lead DOGE, plus a front-row seat at the inauguration and a prime speaking slot at the ensuing celebration.

However, Mr. Musk made things awkward this week after casting doubt on the deal Mr. Trump announced Tuesday with OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who have vowed to invest up to $500 billion into data centers supporting the project. They said it will create more than 100,000 jobs.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Mr. Musk posted late Tuesday on X. In another post, he said, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

For his part, Mr. Altman denied Mr. Musk’s claim, saying, “I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put [America] first.”

On Thursday, Mr. Trump chalked up Mr. Musk’s decision to cast doubt on the deal to his beef with Mr. Altman.

“He hates one of the people in the deal,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Musk’s comments. “People in the deal are very, very, smart people, but Elon, one of the people he happens to hate, but I have certain hatreds of people, too.”

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed Mr. Musk’s comments earlier in the day.

“The American people should take President Trump and those CEOs’ words for it,” Ms. Leavitt said on Fox News. “These investments are coming to our great country and American jobs are coming along with them.”

Mr. Bannon said White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles must keep Mr. Musk in his lane. He said the episode shows Mr. Musk’s influence limits and dispels the “co-presidency” storyline.

“Somehow, he’s lost the plot on his remit, which is, you know, to deconstruct the administrative state and come up with what he’s committed to the President — a $1 trillion cut in this budget,” Mr. Bannon said. “He’s bringing a local Silicon Valley, a feud, into the West Wing and really into the Roosevelt Room and it’s not acceptable.”

“If we don’t bring spending under control, if we don’t deconstruct the administrative state, we are just hurting ourselves, and we’re slowing down Trump’s return to a new golden age,” he said.

Mr. Bannon has been more willing than most Republicans to criticize Mr. Musk and the role of tech giants in the Trump administration.

He has clashed repeatedly with Mr. Musk over immigration visas for highly skilled foreign workers.