Donald Trump’s ex-adviser Steve Bannon voiced frustration on Friday with the former president for not fighting harder for conservative priorities.
Bannon, a staunch Trump ally who served as a White House strategist in 2017, voiced a rare criticism against the 2024 presidential candidate in an episode of his War Room podcast during a discussion about how he believes Trump’s own administration sought to undermine his rule.
On his podcast, Bannon spoke out against a massive spending bill Congress is considering that would fund government agencies. Conservatives, including Bannon, are opposing the bill, saying it would “kill the economy.”
Democrats are seeking to pass a $1.5 trillion bill to fund the government through the end of the year by the December 16 funding deadline, but some Republicans have raised concerns about its price. Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said the two parties are about $25 billion apart on the bill, according to Reuters on Thursday.
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Bannon chided Trump for not being more engaged in policy battles with bills such as this one, calling on him to “get off the Truth,” an apparent reference to Truth Social, Trump’s social media website to which he frequently posts.
“The president and Mar-a-Lago, you’ve got to get the game up. You’ve got to get better. It’s just not good enough right now,” Bannon said. “I hate to be so brutally frank, but we’re fighting for the country. You’ve got to get off the Truth, got to get engaged in these battles up here right now, because that sets the stage for your second term.”
Trump has frequently posted to Truth Social in recent weeks, often defending himself against the myriad controversies and legal woes that have so far defined his 2024 presidential campaign, as well as voicing criticisms against President Joe Biden.
However, he has remained quieter on policy topics such as the spending bill, invoking the rare criticism from Bannon, who has continued to support him.
Bannon, in a statement to Newsweek on Saturday, listed several conservative priorities where Trump should “go all-in to defeat,” describing the former president as the “leader of the Republican Party and MAGA/America First, the most powerful political Movement in American History,” to fight for conservative priorities.
“On Capitol Hill in the next 15 days will be decided the debt ceiling, a $2 trillion Unfunded Omnibus Bill and Amnesty for 2 to 4 million illegals. The actions combined will handcuff his second term—he needs to engage in these fights now and go all-in to defeat,” Bannon wrote.
In recent weeks, Bannon has voiced some criticisms of Trump, as some Republicans distance themselves from the ex-president after the GOP’s underwhelming midterm results last month.
In November, Bannon called out members of Trump’s staff who allowed him to dine at Mar-a-Lago with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West, who has made a slew of antisemitic comments recently. The dinner set off a wave of backlash against Trump, including from some Republicans.
Bannon described the dinner, in which West offered Trump the vice presidential spot on his own 2024 ticket, as a “trolling operation” that makes it seem as though Trump “lacks judgment.”
“So this was well thought through. This just didn’t happen. The staff should know that. The staff should be on top of that. The staff should be doing interventions into this, if that’s the case, and make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen,” Bannon said.
