Steve Bannon Hits Trump for Saluting Netanyahu in Post-Strike Address to the Nation: ‘Last Guy on Earth You Should Thank’
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has been a vocal opponent of U.S. military intervention in Iran, was noticeably toned down in his criticism Saturday night. But he still did take a few jabs at President Donald Trump following his address to the nation Saturday night after the U.S. military strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.
Speaking on a live edition of his War Room podcast Saturday night, Bannon called out the president for saluting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his post-strike address.
“I want to thank and congratulate prime minister Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said. “We work as a team, like perhaps no team has ever worked before. And we’ve gone a long way to erase this horrible threat to Israel.”
Bannon noted that participants in his live chat took note of that comment from Trump.
“It hasn’t been lost in the chat that he thanked Bibi Netanyahu, who I would think right now — at least the War Room’s position is — the last guy on earth you should thank,” Bannon said. “Because I think I don’t think we’ve been dealing from the top of the deck.
Earlier in the week, Bannon ripped Netanyahu — accusing him of trying to “jam” the U.S. into the conflict with Iran.
“Who in the hell are you to lecture the American people?” Bannon said. “Who are you to lecture the American people? The American people are not going to tolerate it. Not going to put up with it. Who are you to jam us into this situation which you knew you couldn’t finish the job, or if you can, go finish it!”
Bannon also more broadly criticized Trump for leaving open the possibility of further strikes.
“I’m not quite sure the talk that a lot of MAGA wanted to hear,” Bannon said. “It sounded … very open ended.”
Trump’s former chief strategist did say “sometimes you must take these actions.” But Bannon also warned about potential “opportunity costs” by having to sacrifice other parts of the Trump agenda in order to focus on a military conflict abroad.
“This is how you get sucked into this,” Bannon said. “This is how you don’t focus on Los Angeles. This is how you don’t focus on sanctuary cities. This is how you don’t focus on the great, beautiful bill.”
Watch above, via Real America’s Voice.
