In an interview with The Hill published Friday, Bannon, who left the White House in 2017 and was later disavowed by Trump after the publication of Michael Wolff's book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House', expressed support for Trump against establishment Republicans going into the 2018 midterm elections.
Going after the Koch brothers, the billionaire industrialists involved in organizing campaign donations for the Republican Party, Bannon called their fundraising operations a "scam" run by "con artists." "It's an open secret in conservative circles that they are a scam, ok? And that's why no big donors are with them anymore," Bannon said.
Trump had attacked the Koch brothers earlier this week, accusing them of being "globalists" and a "total joke in real Republican circles" after Charles Koch criticized the president's trade policies as being "unfair" to other countries and accused Trump of being misguided on immigration.
"You're not going to be able to hide Trump. The opposition is going to force this anyway…You have to go all-in. If you try to go in half-baked, it's not going to work," Bannon insisted, offering the Republican Party tips for the mid-terms.
Bannon also attacked House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, calling him a "lame duck" and saying he "should have been removed" as soon as he announced he would not be seeking reelection. He went on to suggest that Mitch McConnell and other GOP heavyweights who were slow to show support for Trump's candidacy in 2016 had effectively ridden into office on the president's coattails.
Most Twitter users reacted to the Bannon interview with questions about why The Hill gave the former Trump official attention, and complaints about why it didn't ask him the tough questions.
Why is anybody even interviewing this washed-up joker? He couldn't even last in Washington a year. Sad!
— Mad Hatter (@Shirley_I_Jest) August 3, 2018
Speaking of lame ducks…#Bannon
— Mark Bent (@bebento) August 3, 2018
How disappointing that you give Bannon a platform, without offering any challenging questions.
— David Brown (@onechordwonder) August 3, 2018
Others argued that Bannon's attack on the Kochs was an act of "biting the hands that can feed him" and suggested that the former advisor "doesn't understand" that the president no longer cares about his former advisor's opinions.
Steve Bannon is biting the hands that can feed him, the Kochs brothers.
— Mike Games (@PantanoJones) August 3, 2018
Trump destroyed Bannon by firing him from his jobs at the White House and Breitbart. Trump called him "Crazy Steve" after his firings. Bannon doesn't understand that Trump doesn't give a damn about him.
Others made jokes about a 'Bannon vs. Koch bros death match', or voiced their vexation over the fact that he was risking breaking apart the right by sparking a conflagration within the Republican Party
Hating on the Kochs from the Right. Love it. Keep poking the bear, Bannon. Dems: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. — Napoleon Bonaparte — ”
— PETERPUN (@PHGarey) August 3, 2018
Bannon vs. Koch brothers death match.
— gil mahoney (@Gilroyo) August 3, 2018
Koch Bros have their tentacles into just about everything republican and I love it that the republicans are coming out against them. Those running for election and re-election are probably sweating bullets as they say,
— Marge Davis (@Marjee123) August 3, 2018
Trump publicly broke with Bannon in January following the release of Fire & Fury, telling the US media he felt "betrayed" and saying that the former chief strategist had "lost his mind" after being sacked. "Steve doesn't represent my base — he's only in it for himself," Trump said.
