MAGA architect Steve Bannon was humiliated on stage as an audience of his peers met him with silence after he attempted to suck up to the president.
During a conversation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Bannon asked right-wing journalist James Rickards on Friday about oil prices as it relates to 79-year-old President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, as oil and gas prices have skyrocketed domestically.
“Wall Street doesn’t sell stocks. They sell narratives to get you to buy stocks,” Rickards said. “The narrative is the war’s going to be over in a few weeks. Yeah, the price of oil is higher, but it’s going to come back down. We’ll get through this. Trump’s got a plan, et cetera.”
“None of that is true. This war is going to go on for much longer,” he continued. “Escalation is the only path.”
Bannon, who went to prison for defying a subpoena related to the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt, then unsuccessfully attempted to get the crowd to react.
“Let me see a show of hands. The American citizens here, the MAGA patriots, are you prepared to bear a little pain to get this problem solved?” Bannon said.
Just three “MAGA patriots” raised their hands in support, and everyone else stayed silent.
Many MAGA media personalities like Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Joe Rogan have been highly critical of Trump’s deadly war in Iran, but polling suggests that MAGA voters are still largely behind the president as it pertains to the war.
While Bannon had supported Trump for the administration’s strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities last year, the MAGA kingmaker has expressed some concern about a full-out war in the Middle East.
Bannon has warned that a widening war could cause the GOP to lose support in the 2026 midterm elections. He has said he opposes sending boots on the ground in the country—something the administration has not ruled out.
Earlier this week, as the president moved more U.S. troops in the Middle East, Bannon told his followers that the war was about to get “really, really, really ugly.”
“Anybody telling you otherwise, all these people going on Fox blowing smoke, they ain’t out on that front line, and they ain’t got kids out there either,” Bannon said. “They have no skin in the game. Zero.”
