Steve Bannon, right-wing media personality and former White House chief strategist under the Trump administration, on Wednesday said Donald Trump supporters need a “gut check” amid the 2024 presidential election.
Trump and President Joe Biden have clinched nominations of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, but a rematch of 2020 is unpopular with voters, who routinely tell pollsters that they believe neither should get a second term. Hypothetical general election matchups have generally shown the two in a neck-and-neck race.
Bannon, who in 2022 was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress for dismissing a subpoena to testify before the House January 6 committee, on Wednesday took to his War Room podcast to warn Trump supporters about Biden as the election draws closer, saying the Trump “campaign has got to pick itself up, dust itself off, and understand Biden’s got $2 billion,” adding that Trump’s backers need a “gut check.”
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“We have to go all in. You have to do a gut check right now. If you think for a second that this thing is done, and I hear people talking about you going to do it, hey, all bets are off. All bets are off. Right now, every day is a new day. And every day you need to be at the ramparts on the evening of November 5th,” Bannon said.
Bannon continued by stating that Biden has the “same cultural punch” he had in the 2020 election, as he pointed toward the media, higher education and the entertainment industry, segments in which Trump does not have support, Bannon said.
“He’s got all the media, all the universities, all entertainment. He’s got the same cultural punch he’s had before. The people hate him and they hate his policies. But they’ll try to gloss that over as they destroy Trump … And if we don’t pull this off, then walk into the bathroom and look yourself in the mirror and go, what did I do? And what didn’t I do? Because Trump does not have the support of the elites, he’s got the support of you and that’s it,” Bannon added.
War Room CFO Grace Chong took to X, formerly Twitter, in a series of posts to reiterate Bannon’s message. “Trump campaign gotta go all in,” Chong wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to Bannon and Trump’s campaign via email for comment on Wednesday.
Bannon’s comments come after Biden was shown leading Trump among previous voters. According to a new Public Opinion Strategies poll for NBC News, the Democratic incumbent is ahead of his Republican challenger by 9 points among those who voted in the 2020 general election and 2022 midterms.
The poll also found that when third-party candidates are included in the race, in a five-way ballot with Biden, Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West, 39 percent would vote for Biden, while 37 percent would choose Trump.
The poll also found, however, that 46 percent of overall respondents would vote for Trump in the presidential election, while 44 percent would select Biden when only offered the choice of the two candidates.
While some polls have suggested Biden is in the lead, others have predicted Trump will be the victor. Most polls, however, show the candidates are neck-and-neck, and with more than six months before voters hit the polls, the figures are bound to change.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.