'He's not engaged': Steve Bannon pre-blames Trump for GOP election losses
Steve Bannon, MAGA strategist and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, called out the president on Tuesday saying "he's not engaged" and blaming him for GOP election losses before the official results are in.
In a conversation with conservative commentator Eric Bolling on his "War Room" podcast, Bannon recommended Trump should have the Department of Justice officials on a plane to California to try and "talk about the unconstitutionality of what they did in California" in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom's move to redistrict House seats under Prop. 50 after Trump demanded more Republican House seats in Texas.
Bannon said there is a common theme among Republicans who are expected to face a challenge from Democratic rivals in their elections.
"They think Trump's a passing summer storm... the Republican establishment hates Trump. They've had no engagement in Trump in any of these elections. He wasn't engaged in New Jersey. He's not engaged in the commonwealth of Virginia. He's not engaged in New York City. He's not engaged in California," Bannon said.
They use Trump to build momentum, he argued, and that it hasn't worked.
"He just won the greatest political comeback in history," Bannon said.
In California, where Prop. 50 is expected to draw a substantial turnout, it will likely not be positioned in the president's favor, he said.
"That thing could be over the moment the polls close," Bannon said.
Bannon argued that Trump should be more forceful than he's been over the last nine months, especially amid the government shutdown and his pushback to fund SNAP benefits.
"You can't bend to the Democrats... I think we need Trump and we need harder Trump," he added. "How 'bout this? Suck on this. Give 'em Trump and MAGA — Trumpism, full unvarnished. Let's roll."
"You're gonna see tonight, when they all talked him out of getting involved and all the campaigns in those states, you know, Winsome [Earle]-Sears and [Glenn] Youngkin... they couldn't be bothered for four years to implement any MAGA programs. They couldn't be bothered to have Trump down there," he said.
Bannon called Sears "the worst" and a "never Trumper" who should have been more grateful to the president.
"What you're going to get tonight is you're going to get to the Republican party without Trump... And people think you're going to get these low propensity, low information voters without Trump, you're kidding yourselves," he added.
Bannon continued by saying "Trump 2028, show me what you got..."