Steve Bannon warns 'trench warfare' has been triggered by 'dumb' GOP mistake

MAGA strategist Steve Bannon pushed red states to plow forward with redistricting efforts because he said that if Democrats win the House by a single vote, "they're gonna run it like they got a 50-seat majority."

During a Friday interview with GOP adviser Caroline Wren, Bannon insisted he couldn't "get excited" about Republican redistricting efforts because party leaders were leaving seats on the table. He pointed to failures to draw new district maps before the midterms in Indiana and Georgia — despite pressure from President Donald Trump.

However, in other Southern states, Republicans were successful in eliminating several majority-Black districts.

"But yeah, they drew this very weird district that kind of stretches from Baton Rouge to New Orleans," Bannon said of a majority-Black district in Louisiana. "So they're leaving one, one Democrat seat there. And I want to stress, too, in states like Alabama, Louisiana, how dumb this is."

"If we got in these seats, it would have been a blowout," he continued. "[House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) would have no chance of being Speaker of the House. And now he's still got a chance, although it's not the chance they thought they had. And we're going to have trench warfare between now and in November, ma'am."

Bannon argued that Trump shouldn't be responsible for putting pressure on Republican governors to redistrict because "the guy's got the weight of the world on his shoulders."

"You don't want to wake up on the morning after the election in November and know Hakeem Jeffries — because folks understand something," he cautioned. "Hakeem Jeffries is the speaker by one member, by one vote. They're going to run it like they got a 50-seat majority. They're going to ram it down your throat."

"These are radical Marxists on the side. And Hakeem Jeffries is letting these guys run wild. So every seat is important," the MAGA influencer added. "In South Carolina, these legislators have got to hear from their constituents saying, we want this, you need to redistrict now."

"And it's been suppressing and oppressing the South for decade after decade after decade after decade. That's what's so frustrating here."

Bannon's suggestion that majority-Black districts were "oppressing" Republicans in the South was likely to draw criticism from Democratic activists.