Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to President Trump, predicted that the MAGA movement will ultimately support the president if he decides to join Israel in its strikes against Iran.
Bannon, speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor event on Wednesday, predicted that Trump would walk through his decision-making and that MAGA supporters would back him, even though he and Vice President J.D. Vance have been known for wanting to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars.
“If President Trump decides there’s not a diplomatic alternative… because he’s been consistent, no nuclear weapon,” Bannon said. “If President Trump decides to do that, I know, and particularly his skills as a communicator, that he will come and walk people through it and the MAGA movement—look, they’ll be some— but the vast majority of the MAGA movement will say, ‘look, we trust your judgement, you walked us through this… maybe we hate it but you know, we’ll get on board.’”
The idea of Trump involving the U.S. in Israel’s strikes against Iran has created clear divisions within the MAGA movement. Trump on Wednesday morning dodged a question about whether he’s moving closer to ordering a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying, “I may do it, I may not do it.”
Some Trump allies have expressed skepticism and at times, outright indignation, at the idea of the U.S. involved in another conflict in the Middle East, while others have offered whole-hearted support.
But Bannon said it won’t cause support to fall for Trump among his most loyal followers.
“If the president as commander-in-chief makes a decision to do this and comes forward and walks people through it, the MAGA movement— they’ll lose some— but the MAGA movement, the [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the [former Rep.] Matt Gaetzs, we will fight it up to the end and make sure you get full information but if he has more intelligence and makes that case to the American people, the MAGA movement will support President Trump.”
Trump’s choice on how involved the U.S. should be in the war is largely around a potential attack on the Fordow nuclear facility. An attack would require the involvement of the U.S. because B-2 bombers dropping bunker-busting bombs are the only way to destroy the capabilities of a plant hidden deep in an Iranian mountain.
Bannon said Trump likes “optionality” before he decides what to ultimately do in a situation like Iran.
“What you never want to do is give him a, recommend a passive decision that you don’t have options down the road. You have to think it through, second and third tier ramifications. And I think that’s what they’re doing,” he said. “That’s why I think they’re prepositioning assets in place right now to give him the alternatives, if he decides to do either a strike on Fordow or something broader.”
Bannon thinks it should be up to Israel to finish the conflict that began over the weekend.
“My mantra right now, the Israelis have to finish what they started. They started this, they should finish it. They have air superiority,” he said.
Trump on Tuesday met in the Situation Room at the White House with members of his national security team.
And, in recent days, the president’s rhetoric has gotten more threatening towards Tehran; on Tuesday he called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and posted on Truth Social that Iran’s “Supreme Leader” is an “easy target,” but that there are not plans to take him out — “at least for now.”
