Steve Bannon Blasts ‘Disaster’ Trump Commerce Secretary Over TV Hits: ‘I Don’t Know Why Lutnick Is Still Doing Media’
Steve Bannon blasted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on his podcast Monday, calling his media appearances a liability and labeling him “close to being an unmitigated disaster.”
Bannon’s comments come amid reported growing frustration within the White House over Lutnick’s high-profile role in shaping the Trump administration’s trade policy.
A familiar face on television touting President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade agenda, he has reportedly irked some in the White House.
Last week, during an interview with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan, Lutnick claimed Trump’s tariffs would bring automated factories to the US.
In almost the same breath he said, “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America.”
On his War Room podcast Monday, Bannon blasted Lutnick and called for the White House to pull him:
There is a way to have a trading order that puts America first and puts American citizens first and, most importantly, starts to bring back high-value, added manufacturing to the United States. And no, Howard Lutnick it’s not gonna all be done by robots. We’re not doing this so we can set up robots to have a better life.
In fact, I don’t know why Lutnick is still doing media. Let me be blunt. Lutnick who is Elon’s pick for Secretary of Treasury, I think he’s close to being an unmitigated disaster. We should see a lot less of Lutnick on TV.
Bannon concluded, “We have to have a clear message and people understand what the process is and we have process. It’s very well thought through, and this is about, oh, by the way, Stephen Miller should be doing more about trade.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last week:
Lutnick has been responsible for several of the administration’s most unorthodox ideas—some of them unvetted by staff—and his TV appearances have proven so challenging to White House officials that he was asked to curb them last month, according to senior administration officials.
Watch above via Bannon’s War Room.
