Conservative media personality and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon mocked Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential bid, referring to the Florida governor as a “petulant child” who will never be president.
Bannon, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, took aim at DeSantis in a recent episode of his podcast War Room on the streaming platform Real America’s Voice.
DeSantis announced on Sunday in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that he suspended his bid for president and endorsed Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
“Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden, that is clear, DeSantis said in the video. “I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.”
Michael M. Santiago, Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Newsweek reached out via email on Monday to representatives of Bannon and DeSantis for comment.
During the podcast episode that aired on Monday, Bannon praised Trump as “super classy” while criticizing DeSantis, saying the governor “burned $150 million” on his presidential campaign.
“President Trump’s very classy, super classy,” Bannon said. “He’s got a kind heart. He’s a very kind-hearted guy. Ron DeSantis was not gracious. He said, ‘Oh, I signed the pledge, so I got to support him kind of,’ still like the little 9-year-old, petulant child that Ron DeSantis is. Ron DeSantis, who’s never going to be President of the United States, you just spent, burned $150 million in Iowa, dude. You can’t come back from that.”
A roughly 30-second video of Bannon’s comments was shared on X by Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor and frequent Trump critic.
“Bannon says DeSantis will never be president,” Filipkowski posted.
Bannon says Desantis will never be president: “Trump is very classy. Super classy. He’s got a kind heart. He’s actually a very kind hearted guy. Desantis was not gracious. He’s still like the little 9 year old petulant child that Desantis is. Desantis is never going to be POTUS.” pic.twitter.com/OkYJKx77SA
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2024
X user Chris Nelson reshared the clip and praised DeSantis for not “kissing Trump’s ring” and thanked the governor for not being a friend of the MAGA leader and Bannon.
“Disheveled and angry Steve Bannon complains that Ron DeSantis didn’t hand over his $150 Million to the Trump grift operation,” Nelson said in the post. “Rages about DeSantis not going on stage and kissing Trump’s ring. Thank you Ron for not being their friend.”
Disheveled and angry Steve Bannon complains that Ron DeSantis didn’t hand over his $150 Million to the Trump grift operation
Rages about DeSantis not going on stage and kissing Trump’s ring.
Thank you Ron for not being their friend. 🙏pic.twitter.com/Dz8pPUWAGe
— Chris Nelson 🇺🇸 🏝 (@ReOpenChris) January 22, 2024
DeSantis’ departure from the presidential race comes after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucus on January 15, where he earned about 21 percent of votes compared to Trump’s more than 51 percent. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who received roughly 19 percent of votes in Iowa, remains in the race and will face Trump in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
The governor is believed to have spent more than $53 million in Iowa, based on the combined reported spending by the campaign and Never Back Down PAC, where he received around 23,000 votes.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.