How Steve Bannon thinks MAGA will respond if Trump strikes Iran
Steve Bannon made the comments as the situation in Iran has created a rift among some of President Trump's most conservative supporters.
WASHINGTON – The “vast majority” of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement “will get on board” with strikes on Iran, if the two-term Republican goes ahead with military action, his former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon says.
Should he decide there’s no diplomatic solution to be had, Trump will need to walk the American people and MAGA through his thinking, Bannon told reporters at a June 18 breakfast hosted by Christian Science Monitor. But Trump is also likely to win most of his naysaying supporters over.
“There will be some, but the vast majority of the MAGA movement will go, ‘look, we trust your judgement, you’ve walked us through this, we don’t like it, in fact maybe we hate it, but we’ll get on board,’” Bannon said.
Bannon is one of a number of MAGA stars who’s come out against the U.S. actively aiding Israel in ongoing airstrikes on Iranian uranium enrichment and military sites. He said that U.S. military involvement could “blow up the coalition” during a June 16 appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show.
Bannon at the breakfast railed against “old Republican Party” members and media personalities, who he said are “forever war types” who supported the Iraq invasion and other conflicts the MAGA movement opposes.
Bannon also chided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to present strikes on Iran as consistent with ‘America First’ values during a recent interview with a United States broadcaster.
“I do believe that even as we speak that President Trump is looking for potential alternatives,” Bannon said, telling reporters that Trump prefers “optionality” in his decision-making process.
Minutes later at the White House, Trump told reporters that he had not made a decision about U.S. military strikes on Iran's uranium enrichment sites. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do," he said.
Asked directly about the schism in MAGA, Trump responded in the Oval Office later in the day: “My supporters are for me. My supporters are ‘America first’ and ‘Make America great again.'"